
Class. "F" 
GoppghtN? 

CQFmiGHT DEPOSIT. 



y- v^J" , 



THE FALLS 



OF 



NIAGARA 

WITH SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS ON 

THE OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS 
OF THE WORLD. 



BY 



GEORGE W. HOLLEY. 



(jMitl) 3flluBtrationfi. 






"^u 



NEW-YORK: 
A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON, 

714 BROADWAY. 
1883. 



f KjV a 1882 



\-'-- 



i 



Copyright, 1882, by George W. Holley. 



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(U 



' ©0 tt)c ifWfmorj 

OF 
MY DEPARTED FRIENDS, 

PETER A. PORTER 

AND 

JOEL R. ROBINSON. 

ffifjf fornifr, 

ANSWERING THE SUMMONS TO THE BATTLE-FIELD, 
GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY. 

STfjf latttr 

OFTEN RISKED HIS OWN LIFE IN SAVING 
THE LIVES OF OTHERS. 

GEORGE W. HOLLEY. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface xiii 



Part I. — History. 



CHAPTER I. 



First French expedition — Jacques Cartier — He first hears of the great 
Cataract — Champlain — Route to China — La Salle — Father Henne- 
pin's first and second visits to the Falls i 



CHAPTER II. 

Baron La Hontan's description of the Falls — M. Charlevoix's letter to 
Madame Maintenon — Number of the Falls — Geological indications — 
Great projection of the rock in Father Hennepin's time — Cave of the 
Winds — Rainbows 9 

CHAPTER III. 

The name Niagara — The musical dialect of the Hurons — Niagara one 
of the oldest of Indian names — Description of the River, the Falls, 
and the surrounding country 15 

CHAPTER IV. 

Niagara a tribal name — Other names given to the tribe — The Niagaras 
a superior race — The true pronunciation of Indian words 19 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. PAGE 

The lower Niagara — Fort Niagara — Fort Mississauga — Niagara vil- 
lage — Lewiston — Portage around the Falls — The first railroad in the 
United States — Fort Schlosser — The ambuscade at DeviPs Hole — 
La Salle's vessel, the Griffin — The Niagara frontier 25 



Part II. — Geology. 



CHAPTER VI. 

America the old world — Geologically recent origin of the Falls — Evi- 
dence thereof — Captain Williams's surveys for a ship-canal — Former 
extent of Lake Michigan — Its outlet into the Illinois River — The 
Niagara Barrier — How broken through — The birth of Niagara 32 

CHAPTER VII. 

Composition of the terrace cut through — Why retrocession is possible — 
Three sections from Lewiston to the Falls — Devil's Hole — The 
Medina group — Recession long checked — The Whirlpool — The nar- 
rowest part of the river — The mirror — Depth of the water in the 
Chasm — Former grand Fall 42 

CHAPTER VIIL 

Recession above the present position of the Falls — The Falls will be 
higher as they recede — Reason Why — Professor Tyndall's predic- 
tion — Present and former accumulations of rock — Terrific power of 
the elements — Ice and ice bridges — Remarkable geognosy of the lake 
region 50 



Part III. 
Local History and Incidents. 

chapter ix. 

Forty years since — Niagara in winter — Frozen spray — Ice foliage and 
ice apples — Ice moss — Frozen fog — Ice islands — Ice statues — 
Sleigh-riding on the American Rapids — Boys coasting on them — Ice 
gorges 62 



CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER X. PAGE 

Judge Porter — General Porter — Goat Island — Origin of its name — 
Early dates found cut in the bark of trees and in the rock — Professor 
Kalm's wonderful story — Bridges to the Island — Method of construc- 
tion — Red Jacket — Anecdotes — Grand Island — Major Noah and the 
New Jerusalem— The Stone Tower —The Biddle stairs — Sam Patch- 
Depth of water on the Horseshoe — Ships sent over the Falls 71 

CHAPTER XI. 

Joel R. Robinson, the first and last navigator of the Rapids — Rescue 
of Chapin — Rescue of Allen — He takes the Maid of the Mist through 
the Whirlpool — His companions — Effect upon Robinson — Biograph- 
ical notice — His grave unmarked ge 

CHAPTER XII. 

A fisherman and a bear in a canoe — Frightful experience with floating ice 

Early farming on the Niagara — Fruit-growing — The original forest 

Testimony of the trees — The first hotel — General Whitney — Cataract 
House — Distinguished visitors — Carriage road down the Canadian 
bank — Ontario House — Clifton House — The Museum — Table and 
Termination Rocks — Burning Spring — Lundy's Lane — Battle Anec- 
dotes 



96 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Incidents — Fall of Table Rock — Remarkable phenomenon in the river 
— Driving and lumbering on the Rapids — Points of the compass at 
the Falls — A first view of the Falls commonly disappointing — Lunar 
bow — Golden spray — Gull Island and the gulls — The highest water 
ever known at the Falls — The Hermit of the Falls io8 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Avery's descent of the Falls — The fatal practical joke — Death of Miss 
Rugg — Swans — Eagles — Crows— Ducks over the Falls — Why dogs 
have survived the descent 118 

CHAPTER XV. 

Wedding tourists at the Falls — Bridges to the Moss Islands — Railway 
at the Ferry — List of persons who have been carried over the Falls — 
Other accidents 12c 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVI. PAGE 

The first Suspension Bridge — The Railway Suspension Bridge — Extraor- 
dinary vibration given to the Railway Bridge by the fall of a mass of 
rock — De Veaux College — The Lewiston Suspension Bridge — The 
Suspension Bridge at the Falls 137 

CHAPTER XVn. 

Blondin and his "ascensions" — Visit of the Prince of Wales — Grand 
illumination of the Falls — The steamer Caroline — The Water-power 
of Niagara — Lord Dufferin and the plan of an international park. . . . 144 

CHAPTER XVHL 

Poetry in the Table Rock albums — Poems by Colonel Porter, Willis G. 
Clark, Lord Morpeth, Jose Maria Heredia, A. S. Ridgely, Mrs. Sigour- 
ney, and J. G. C. Brainard 153 



Part IV. 
Other Famous Cataracts of the World. 

chapter xix. 

Yosemite — Vernal — Nevada — Yellowstone — Shoshone — St. Maurice 
— Montmorency 164 

CHAPTER XX. 

Tequendama — Kaiteeur — Paulo Affonso — Keel-fos — Riunkan-fos — 
Sarp-fos — Staubbach — Zambesi or Victoria — Murchison — Cavery — 
Schaffhausen 171 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Famous rapids and cascades — Niagara — Amazon — Orinoco — Parana 

— Nile — Livingstone 1 79 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Niagara Falls from the Canadian Side Frontispiece. 

The Horseshoe Fall from Goat Island Opposite page 6 



Luna Fall and Island in Winter 

The Rapids above the Falls 

The Youngest Inhabitant 

Mouth of the Chasm and Brock's Monument. 

Niagara Falls from Below 

Great Icicles under the American Fali 

Winter Foliage 

Ice Bridge and Frost Freaks 

Coasting below the American Fall 

Second Moss Island Bridge 

Joel R. Robinson 

The Maid of the Mist IN the Whirlpool 

Fisher and the Bear 

Fall of Table Rock 

Rock of Ages and Whirlwind Bridge 

The Three Sisters or Moss Islands 

How the Suspension Bridge was Begun 



II 

17 
22 
29 

54 

60 

66 

69 

70 

76 

86 

91 

97 

109 

114 

125 

137 



xu 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Blondin Crossing the Niagara . . .Opposite page 145 



Indian Women Selling Bead-work 

YosEMiTE Falls 

Bridal Veil Fall 

Vernal Falls 

Nevada Falls 

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone . 
Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. 

The Staubbach, Switzerland 

Victoria Falls, Zambesi 



148 
164 
166 
168 
171 
172 

174 
176 
178 



Map of the Niagara Region 



PREFACE, 



'T^HE writer, having resided in the village of Niagara 
-^ Falls for more than a third of a century, has had 
opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with the 
locality, and to study it with constantly increasing 
interest and admiration. Long observation enables him 
to offer some new suggestions in regard to the geological 
age of the Falls, their retrocession, and the causes which 
have been potent in producing it; and also to demon- 
strate the existence of a barrier or dam that was once 
the shore of an immense fresh-water sea, which reached 
from Niagara to Lake Michigan, and emptied its waters 
into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Whoever undertakes to write comprehensively on 
this subject will soon become aware of the weakness of 
exclamation points and adjectives, and the almost irre- 



xiv PREFACE. 

sistible temptation to indulge in a style of composition 
which he cannot maintain, and should not if he could. 
So far as the writer, yielding to the inspiration of his 
theme, and in opposition to all resolutions to the con- 
trary, may have trespassed in this direction, he bares 
and bows his head to the severest treatment that the 
critic may adopt. His labor has been one of love, and 
in giving its results to the public he regrets that it is 
not more worthy of the subject. 

As it is hoped that the work may be useful to 
future visitors to the Falls, and also possess some 
interest for those who have visited them, it seemed 
desirable to avoid the introduction of notes and the 
citation of authorities. For this reason several para- 
graphs are placed in the text which would otherwise 
have been introduced in notes. This is especially true 
of the chapters of local history. 

The writer is especially indebted to the Hon. Or- 
samus H. Marshall, of Buffalo, for a copy of his 
admirable " Historical Sketches," and for access to his 
library of American history. The Documentary History 
and Colonial Documents of the State of New York, 
"The Relations of the Jesuits," the works of other 
early French missionaries, travelers, and adventurers, 
made familiar to the public by the indefatigable labors 
of Shea and Parkman, have all helped to make the 
writer's task comparatively an easy one. 



PREFACE. XV 

Several years ago, the body of this work, which has 
since been revised and considerably enlarged, was pub- 
lished in a small volume, that has long been out of 
print. Believing that the interest of the volume would 
be enhanced for the reader if he were able to con- 
trast Niagara Falls with other famous falls, cataracts, 
and rapids, the writer has added chapters, describing the 
most noted of these in all parts of the world. 

G. W. H. 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. 

September, 1882. 




X b ^ 






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U3SSOTH0S ±v\ 

■AIH vyvovif 

Ml U3J.VM 
JO 30Vd 



PART I.— HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 

First French expedition — Jacques Cartier — He first hears of the great Cata- 
ract — Champlain — Route to China — La Salle — Father Hennepin's first 
and second visits to the Falls. 

IN 1534, Jacques Cartier, a shrewd, enterprising, and 
adventurous sailor, made his first voyage across the 
Atlantic, touching at Newfoundland, and exploring the 
coast to the west and south of it. The two vessels of 
Cartier, called ships by the historians of the period, were 
each of only forty tons burden. 

On the return of Cartier to France, so favorable was 
his report of the results of the expedition, that Francis I. 
commissioned him, the year following, for another voy- 
age, and in May, 1535, after impressive religious cere- 
monies, he sailed with three vessels thoroughly equipped. 
The record of this second voyage of Cartier, by Lescarbot, 
contains the first historical notice of the cataract of 
Niagara. The navigator, in answer to his inquiries con- 
cerning the source of the St. Lawrence, " was told that, 



2 NIAGARA. 

after ascending many leagues among rapids and water- 
falls, he would reach a lake one hundred and forty or 
fifty leagues broad, at the western extremity of which 
the waters were wholesome and the winters mild ; that 
a river emptied into it from the south, which had its 
source in the country of the Iroquois ; that beyond the 
lake he would find a cataract and portage, then another 
lake about equal to the former, which they had never 
explored." 

In 1603, a company of merchants in Rouen obtained 
the necessary authority for a new expedition to the St. 
Lawrence, which they placed under the direction of 
Samuel Champlain, an able, discreet, and resolute com- 
mander. On a map published in 16 13 he indicated the 
position of the cataract, calling it merely a water-fall 
(saut d'emi), and describing it as being " so very high 
that many kinds of fish are stunned in its descent." It 
does not appear by the record that he ever saw the Falls. 

During the sixty years that elapsed between the 
establishment of the French settlements by Champlain 
and the expedition of La Salle and Hennepin, there can 
be little doubt that the great cataract was repeatedly 
visited by French traders and adventurers. Many of the 
earlier travelers to the region of the St. Lawrence 
believed that China could be reached by an overland 
journey across the northern part of the continent. 
Father Vimont informs us (" Relations of the Jesuits," 
1642-3) that the Jesuit Raymbault "designed to go to 
China across the American wilderness, but God sent him 
on the road to heaven." As he died at the Saut Ste. 



HISTORY. 

Marie in 1641, he must have passed to the north of the 
Falls without seeing them. In 1648, the Jesuit father 
Ragueneau, in a letter to the Superior of the Mission at 
Pans, says: "North of the Eries is a great lake, ab^ut 
tuo hundred leagues in circumference, called Erie, formed 
by the discharge of the mer-doucc or Lake Huron, and 
which falls into a third lake, called Ontario, o^er a 
cataract of frightful height." 

In some important manuscripts relating to the earliest 
expeditions of the French into Canada,- discovered a 
few years ago, and now in the possession of M Pierre 
Margry, of Paris,- occurs a description of the Falls com- 
municated by the Indians to Father Gallinee, one of the 
two Sulpician priests who accompanied La Salle in his 
first visit to the Senecas, in 1669. He seems to have 

yILTT "k"'?""' '' ^'^ ^'^^'""^^ °^ N-^"- than 
Father Raymbault, since he crossed the Niagara River 

near Its mouth, and within hearing of its falling waters 

yet did not turn aside to see the cataract. In his journai 

ne says: "We found a river one-eighth of a league 

broad and extremely rapid, forming the outlet of Lake 

Erie and emptying into Lake Ontario. The depth of 

the river is. at this place, extraordinary, for. on sounding 

close by the shore, we found fifteen or sixteen fathoms 

of water. This outlet (the Niagara River) is forty 

eagues long, and has, from ten to twelve leagues above 

Lake Ontario, one of the finest cataracts in the world- 

for all the Indians of whom I have inquired about it say 

that the river falls at that place from a rock higher than 

the tallest pines — that is, about two hundred feet In 



4 NIAGARA. 

fact, we heard it from the place where we were, although 
from ten to twelve leagues distant, but the fall gives such 
a momentum to the water that its velocity prevented our 
ascending the current by rowing, except with great 
difficulty. At a quarter of a league from the outlet, 
where we were, it grows narrower, and its channel is 
confined between two very high, steep, rocky banks, 
inducing the belief that the navigation would be very 
difficult quite up to the cataract. As to the river above 
the Falls, the current very often sucks into this gulf, 
from a great distance above, deer and stags, elk and 
roebucks, which, in attempting to swim the river, suffer 
themselves to be drawn so far down-stream that they are 
compelled to descend the Falls, and are overwhelmed in 
its frightful abyss. 

" Our desire to reach the little village called Ganas- 
toque Sonontona (between the west end of Lake Ontario 
and Grand River) prevented our going to view that 
wonder. * * ♦ I will leave you to judge if that must 
not be a fine cataract, in which all the water of the large 
river (St. Lawrence) * * * falls from a height of two 
hundred feet, with a noise that is heard not only at the 
place where we were, — ten or twelve leagues distant, — 
but also from the other side of Lake Ontario, opposite its 
mouth" (Toronto, forty miles distant). 

Of the rattlesnakes on the mountain ridges he says: 
"There are many in this place as large as your arm, and 
six or seven feet long, and entirely black." 

From Ganastoque Sonontona the party separated, the 
two priests, with their guides and attendants, designing 



HISTORY. 5 

to move to the west, along the north shore of Lake Erie, 
and La Salle apparently to return to Montreal, but in 
reality, as is supposed, to prosecute by a more southerly 
route the grand ambition of his life — the discovery of the 
Mississippi River — a purpose which he executed with 
even more than the "bigot's zeal," and literally, as it 
proved in the end, with the "martyr's constancy," for he 
was assassinated on the plains of Texas, some few years 
after, while endeavoring to secure to France the benefits 
of his great discovery. 

After separating from his companions at the Indian 
village, he probably returned to Lake Ontario and the 
Niagara River, which he crossed, no doubt, on his way to 
some of the Iroquois villages, in search of a guide and 
attendants to assist him in his explorations. It may be 
assumed that he visited the Falls at this time, but his 
journal of this expedition has never been found. 

The first description of the Falls by an eye-witness is 
that of Father Hennepin, so well known to those con- 
versant with our early history. He saw it for the first 
time in the winter of 1678-9, and his exaggerated account 
of it is accompanied by a sketch which in its principal 
features is undoubtedly correct, though its perspective 
and proportions are quite otherwise. He says: "Betwixt 
the lakes Ontario and Erie there is a vast and prodigious 
cadence of water, which falls down in a surprising and 
astonishing manner, insomuch that the universe does not 
afford its parallel. 'Tis true that Italy and Switzerland 
boast of some such things, but we may well say they arc 
sorry patterns when compared with this of which we now 
la 



6 NIAGARA. 

speak. * * * It [the river] is so rapid above the 
descent, that it violently hurries down the wild beasts 
while endeavoring to pass it, * * * they not being 
able to withstand the force of its current, which inevitably 
casts them headlong above six hundred feet high. This 
wonderful downfall is composed of two great streams of 
water and two falls, with an isle sloping along the middle 
of it. The waters which fall from this horrible precipice 
do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imagi- 
nable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than 
that of thunder; for, when the wind blows out of the 
south, their dismal roaring may be heard more than 
fifteen leagues off. 

" The river Niagara having thrown itself down this 
incredible precipice, continues its impetuous course for 
two leagues together to the great rock, above mentioned 
[in another chapter as lying at the foot of the mountain 
at Lewiston], with inexpressible rapidity. * * ■•' 
From the great Fall unto this rock, which is to the west 
of the river, the two brinks of it are so prodigiously high, 
that it would make one tremble to look steadily upon the 
water rolling along with a rapidity not to be imagined." 

On his return from the West, in the summer of 1681, 
the Father informs us that he " spent half a day in con- 
sidering the wonders of that prodigious cascade." Refer- 
ring to the spray, he says: "The rebounding of these 
waters is so great that a sort of cloud arises from the 
foam of it, which is seen hanging over this abyss even at 
noon-day." Of the river, he says: "From the mouth of 
Lake Erie to the Falls are reckoned six leagues. * * * 




The Horseshoe Fall, from Goat Island. 

Opposite page 6. 



HISTORY. y 

The lands which lie on both sides of it to the east and 
west are all level from the Lake Erie to the great Fall." 
At the end of the six leagues "it meets with a small 
sloping island, about half a quarter of a league long and 
near three hundred feet broad, as well as one can guess 
by the eye. From the end, then, of this island it is that 
these two great falls of water, as also the third, throw 
themselves, after a most surprising manner, down into 
the dreadful gulph, six hundred feet and more in depth." 
On the Canadian side, he says: " One may go down as far 
as the bottom of this terrible gulph. The author of this 
discovery was down there, the more narrowly to observe 
the fall of these prodigious cascades. From there we 
could discover a spot of ground which lay under the fall 
of water which is to the east [American Fall] big enough 
for four coaches to drive abreast without being wet ; but 
because the ground * * * ^hgre the first fall 
empties itself into the gulph is very steep and almost 
perpendicular, it is impossible for a man to get down on 
that side, into the place where the four coaches may go 
abreast, or to make his way through such a quantity of 
water as falls toward the gulph, so that it is very prob- 
able that to this dry place it is that the rattlesnakes 
retire, by certain passages which they find under- 
ground." 

Finding no Indians living at the FalLs, he suggests a 
probable reason therefor: "T have often heard talk of 
the Cataracts of the Nile, which make people deaf that 
live near them. I know not if the Iroquois who formerly 
lived near this fall * * * withdrew themselves 



8 NIAGARA. 

from its neighborhood lest they should likewise become 
deaf, or out of the continual fear they were in of the 
rattlesnakes, which are very common in this place. * * * 
Be it as it will, these dangerous creatures are to be met 
with as far as the Lake Frontenac [Ontario], on the 
south side ; and it is reasonable to presume that the 
horrid noise of the Fall and the fear of these poisonous 
serpents might oblige the savages to seek out a more 
commodious habitation." In the view of the Falls 
accompanying his description, a large rock is represented 
as standing on the edge of the Table Rock. This rock is 
mentioned by Kalm, a Swedish naturalist, who visited 
the Falls in 1750, as having disappeared a few years 
before that date. Father Hennepin's reference to the 
animals drawn into the current and going over the Falls, 
and to the rattlesnakes, indicates unmistakably his pre- 
vious acquaintance with Father Gallinees's narrative. 



CHAPTER II. 

Baron La Hontan's description of the Falls — M. Charlevoix's letter to 
Madame Maintenon — Number of the Falls — Geological indications — 
Great projection of the rock in Father Hennepin's time — Cave of the 
Winds — Rainbows. 

EVEN more exaggerated than Father Hennepin's is 
the next account of the Falls which has come 
down to us, and which was written by Baron La 
Hontan, in the autumn of 1687. Fear of an attack from 
the Iroquois, the relentless enemies of the French, made 
his visit short and unsatisfactory. He says: "As for the 
water-fall of Niagara, 'tis seven or eight hundred feet 
high, and half a league wide. Toward the middle of it 
we descry an island, that leans toward the precipice, as 
if it were ready to fall." Concerning the beasts and fish 
drawn over the precipice, he says they *' serve for food" 
for the Iroquois, who "take 'em out of the water with their 
canoes"; and also that "between the surface of the 
water, that shelves off prodigiously, and the foot of the 
precipice, three men may cross in abreast, without further 
damage than a sprinkling of some few drops of water." 
Father Hennepin, it will be remembered, makes this 
space broad enough for four coaches, instead of three men. 
From the Baron's declaration as to the manner in 
which the Indians captured the game which went over 



lO NIAGARA. 

the Falls, it would seem that the bark canoe of the 
Indian was the precursor of the white man's skiff and 
yawl, that serve as a ferry below the Falls. And the 
timid traveler of the present day, who hesitates about 
crossing in this latter craft, will probably pronounce the 
Indian foolhardy for venturing on those turbulent waters 
in his light canoe, whereas, in skillful hands, it is pecul- 
iarly fitted for such navigation. 

A more correct estimate of the cataract than either of 
the preceding is that of M. Charlevoix, sent to Madame 
Maintenon, in 1721. After referring to the inaccurate 
accounts of Hennepin and La Hontan, he says: "For my 
own part, after having examined it on all sides, where it 
could be viewed to the greatest advantage, I am inclined 
to think we cannot allow it [the height] less than one 
hundred and forty or fifty feet." As to its figure, "it is 
in the shape of a horseshoe, and it is about four hundred 
paces in circumference. It is divided in two exactly in 
the center by a very narrow island, half a quarter of a 
league long." In relation to the noise of the falling 
water, he says: "You can scarce hear it at M. de 
Joncaire's [Fort Schlosser], and what you hear in this 
place [Lewiston] may possibly be the whirlpools, caused 
by the rocks which fill up the bed of the river as far 
as this." 

Neither Baron La Hontan nor M. Charlevoix speaks 
of the number of water-falls. But Father Hennepin, 
it will be remembered, mentions three, two of which 
were to the south and west of Goat Island. And the 
Rev. Abbe Picquet, who visited the place in 175 1. 




Luna Fall and Island in \Vinter. 

Opposite I'age ji. 



HISTORY. 1 1 

seventy years after Father Hennepin, says (Documentary 
History, I., p. 283): "This cascade is as prodigious by 
reason of its height and the quantity of water which falls 
there, as on account of the variety of its falls, which are 
to the number of six principal ones divided by a small 
island, Iqaving three to the north and three to the south. 
They produce of themselves a singular symmetry and 
wonderful effect." 

The geological indications are that Goat Island once 
embraced all the small islands lying near it, and also 
that it covered the whole of the rocky bar which 
stretches up stream some hundred and fifty rods above 
the head of the present island. At that period, from the 
depressions now visible in the rocky bed of the river, 
it would seem probable that the water cut channels 
through the modern drift corresponding with these 
depressions. In that case there would then have been a 
third fall in the American channel, north of Goat Island, 
lying between Luna Island and a small island then lying 
just north of the Little Horseshoe, and stretching up 
toward Chapin's Island. On the south side of Goat 
Island, there would have been a fall between its southern 
shore and an island then situated about two hundred 
feet farther south. 

The highest point in the American Fall, the salient 
and beautiful projection near the shore at Prospect 
Park, is upheld by a more substantial foundation than is 
revealed at any other accessible portion of the face of 
the precipice. This is made manifest on entering the 
"Shadow-of-the-Rock," where the spectator sees a mass- 



12 NIAGARA. 

ive wall of thoroughly indurated limestone, disposed in 
regular layers more than two feet in thickness, with faces 
as smooth as if dressed with the chisel. Passing in front 
of this, across the American Fall, under the Horseshoe 
and Table Rock, there must have been formerly a broad 
cleft of soft, friable limestone, to the disintegration and 
removal of which was due the great overhanging of the 
upper strata noticed by Father Hennepin and Baron 
La Hontan. 

For three miles above the Falls, the course of the 
river is almost due west. But after leaving the precipice 
it makes an acute angle with its former direction, and 
thence runs north-east to the railway suspension bridge. 
The formation of the rapids — one of the most beautiful 
features of the scene — is due to this change of direction. 
At no point below its present position could there have 
been such a prelude — musical as well as motional — to 
the great cataract. And when these rapids shall have 
disappeared in the receding flood it is not probable that 
there will be other rapids that can equal them in length, 
breadth, beauty, and power. 

The declivity in the lower channel through the gorge 
is ninety feet; but on the surface of the upper banks 
there is a rise of more than one hundred feet in the same 
direction — that is, down the river. Hence, when the 
Falls were at Lewiston they were more than two hundred 
and fifty feet high. Now the greatest descent is one 
hundred and sixty-eight feet, the diminution being the 
result of retrocession in the line of the dip — from north- 
east to south-west — in the bed-rock. It is owing to this 



HISTORY. 13 

dip that the surface of the water on the American side is 
ten feet higher than it is on the Canadian. The con- 
tinuous column of water, however, is longest in the center 
of the Horseshoe, because of the fallen rock and debris 
lying at the foot of the other portions of the Fall. At 
this time the upward slope of the bed-rock is such that — 
if it shall prove to be sufficiently hard — the Falls, after 
receding four miles farther, will be two hundred and 
twenty feet high. 

It is evident from the descriptions of Father Henne- 
pin and of Baron La Hontan, that the upper stratum 
of rock over which the water falls must have projected 
beyond the face of the rock below much farther than it 
now does. The large masses of fallen rock lying at the 
foot of the American and Horse-shoe Falls are evidence 
of this fact. Travelers still go behind the sheet on the 
Canadian side, and into and through the Cave of the 
Winds, on the American side. But they do not expect to 
keep dry in so doing, nor to sun themselves on the rocks 
below, like the " rattlesnakes " of former days. Never- 
theless, there is no more exciting nor exhilarating excur- 
sion to be made at the Falls than that through the Cave 
of the Winds. 

Nowhere else are the prismatic hues exhibited in such 
wonderful variety, nor in such surpassing brilliancy and 
beauty. And although a rainbow is not a spraybow, it 
may be admitted that a spraybow is a rainbow, formed of 
drops of water, large or small. So here rainbow dust and 
shattered rainbows are scattered around ; rainbow bars 
and arches, horizontal and perpendicular, are flashing and 



14 NIAGARA. 

forming, breaking and reforming, around and above the 
visitor in the most fantastic and deHghtful confusion of 
form and effect. And if his fancy prompts him, he may 
arrange himself as a portrait, at half or full length, in an 
annular bow. The enamored Strephon may literally place 
his charming Delia in a living, sparkling rainbow-frame, 
flecked all over with diamonds and pearls. 



CHAPTER III. 

The name Niagara — The musical dialect of the Hurons — Niagara one of the 
oldest of Indian names — Description of the river, the Falls, and the sur- 
rounding country. 

THERE is in some words a mystic power which it is 
not easy to analyze or define ; they fascinate the 
ear even of those who do not understand their mean- 
ing. The very sound of them as they are enunciated by 
the human voice touches a chord to which the heart 
instinctively responds. So it is with the name of the great 
cataract. No one can hear it correctly pronounced with- 
out being charmed with its rhythmical beauty, or without 
feeling confident of its poetical aptness and significance 
in tlie dialect from which it was derived. 

And although we have no means of determining the 
correctness of any of the fanciful or poetical interpreta- 
tions which have been given of the word, still we cannot 
doubt that it must have had a peculiar force and justness 
with those who first applied it. Baron La Hontan, who 
spent several years among the Indians, noticed the remark- 
able fact concerning their language that it had no labials. 
" Nevertheless," he says, " the language of the Hurons ap- 
pears very beautiful, and the sound of it perfectly charm- 
ing, although, in speaking it, they never close their lips." 



1 6 NIAGARA. 

The most voluminous and among the earliest existing 
records connected with the River St. Lawrence, and the 
great lakes which it drains, are the well-known "Relations 
of the Jesuits," so called, comprising a yearly account of 
the labors of the Missionary Fathers sent out by the Col- 
lege at Paris to Christianize the Indians. In 1615, they 
established their mission at Quebec, and from thence 
extended their operations westward. In 1626, they 
reached the large and powerful tribe of Indians which 
occupied the splendid domain which may be described 
with proximate accuracy as bounded by a line commenc- 
ing at a point on the southerly shore of Lake Ontario, 
about thirty miles west of the mouth of the Genesee 
River, and running thence parallel to that river to a point 
due west from Avon ; thence nearly due west to Buf- 
falo ; thence along the north shore of Lake Erie to the 
Detroit River ; thence up that river to a point directly west 
from the west end of Lake Ontario ; thence east to that 
lake, and finally along the southern shore of it to the place 
of beginning. 

The oldest and most notable name in all this territory 
is Niagara, as would naturally be inferred, when we con- 
sider the varied and wonderful features of the mighty river 
which flows across this country. Taking leave of Lake 
Erie, its clear waters gradually spread themselves out in 
a broad, bright channel, over a plain, open country, hav- 
ing a slight declivity, just sufficient to make a gentle cur- 
rent, thereby adding the living beauty and force of motion 
to the broad expanse of a lake-like surface, that surface 
itself diversified and relieved by the pleasant islands, large 




The Rapids above the Falls. 

Opposite page 17. 



HISTORY. 17 

and small, which are scattered over it. Eddying into 
every quiet bay, coquetting with every salient angle, 
moving to the melody of its own murmurs, it flows on 
serenely and musically. 

But after a time this holiday journey is interrupted. 
A fearful change takes place, ^he careless waters are 
hurried down a long and sharp descent, over the rough, 
denuded, bowlder-studded bed-rock of the stream. Break- 
ing and bounding, surging and resurging, flashing and 
foaming, rushing fiercely upon some huge bowlder, recoil- 
ing an instant, then madly leaping entirely over it, rush- 
ing on to others huger still, then breaking wildly around 
them, the troubled waters hurry on until, culminating in 
their sublimest aspect, they plunge sheer downward in the 
grandest of cataracts. 

And now the scene and the effect it produces on the 
beholder both change. The rapids are beautiful ; the 
falls are grand ; those are exhilarating, these are inspiring; 
those are noisy, turbulent, fickle ; these are calm, resist- 
less, inexorable. 

After the water has made the final plunge over the 
precipice the cataract acquires its most impressive charac- 
teristics ; the majestic monotone, the bow, the cloud, 
which is its veil by night, its crowning glory and beauty 
by day. The combinations of grandeur and beauty have 
reached their climax in the fall, the foam, the voice, the 
spray, the bow. 

The chasm of the river from the Falls to Lewis- 
ton will be sufficiently described in treating of the geol- 
ogy of the district. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario, 
2 



1 8 NIAGARA. 

seven miles, the waters of the river flow on through 
an elevated and fertile plain, in a strong, calm, majestic 
current, smiling with dimples and reversed in occasional 
eddies, but neither broken by rapids nor impeded by 
islands. Finally it is lost in the lake, after passing an 
immense bar formed by the enormous mass of sediment- 
ary matter carried down by its own current The land- 
scape, as seen from the top of the terrace above Lewiston, 
is one of the finest and most extensive of its peculiar 
character which can be found on the continent, all its 
features being such as appertain to a broad, open country. 
The visitor at Niagara, as he looks at the Falls, will 
have a profounder appreciation of their magnitude by 
considering that it requires the water drainage of a 
quarter of a continent to sustain them, and that the 
remoter springs, which send to them their constant trib- 
ute, are more than twelve hundred miles distant. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Niagara a tribal name — Other names given to the tribe — The Niagaras a 
superior race — The true pronunciation of Indian words. 

THE name Niagara has been so thoroughly identified 
with the river and the Falls that the question 
whether it was also the name of an Indian nation or tribe 
has been quite neglected. It is proposed now to give 
the question some consideration, assuming, at once, its 
affirmative to be true. This, it is believed, we shall be 
justified in cioing by every principle of analogy. We 
know that it was a general practice of the Indians who 
occupied this region of country, so abounding in lakes 
and rivers, to give the name of the nation or tribe to, or 
to name them after, the most prominent bodies and 
courses of water found in their territory. Such was the 
fact with the Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Onondagas, 
and Hurons, the tribal name of each being perpetuated 
both in a lake and a river. The Mohawks, the warrior 
tribe of the Six Nations, having no noted lake within 
their boundaries, left a perpetual memorial of themselves 
in the name of a beautiful river. The unwarlike Eries, 
too, though finally exterminated by their more power- 
ful and aggressive neighbors, the Iroquois, are still 
remembered in the lake which bears their name. 



20 NIAGARA. 

With the Niagaras the river and the cataract were the 
most notable and impressive features of their territory. 
Their principal village bore the same name ; and when we 
recall the proverbial vanity of the race, we can hardly 
doubt that this must also have been their tribal name. 
That it should have been perpetuated in reference to the 
village, the river, and the falls, and that the use of it, in 
reference to the tribe, should have lapsed, can be readily 
understood when we recollect that they had two substi- 
tutes for the tribal name. One of these substitutes is 
explained at page 70 of the "Relations" of 1641, 
in a passage which we translate as follows: "Our Hurons 
call the Neuter Nation Attouanderonks, as though they 
would say a people of a little different language : for 
as to those nations that speak a language of which 
they understand nothing, they call them Attoiiankes, 
whatever nation they may be, or as though they spoke 
of strangers. They of the Neuter Nation in turn, 
and for the same reason, call our Hurons Attouan- 
deronks.'' 

Thus it would seem that this was a mere title of con- 
venience used to indicate a certain fact, namely, a differ- 
ence of language. The other substitute by which the 
nation was best known among their white brethren will 
be understood by an extract from a letter contained in the 
same "Relations," and written from St. Mary's Mission 
on the river Severn, by Father Lalement. In it he gives 
an account of a journey made by the Fathers Jean de 
Brebeuf and Joseph Marie Chaumont to the country of 
the Neuter Nation, as the Niagaras were called by the 



HISTORY. 21 

Hurons on the north and the Iroquois on the south of 
them, learning it, as they did, from the French. The 
letter says: "Our French, who first discovered this 
people, named them the Neuter Nation, and not without 
reason, for their country being the ordinary passage by 
land, between some of the Iroquois nations and the 
Hurons, who are sworn enemies, they remained at peace 
with both ; so that in times past the Hurons and the 
Iroquois, meeting in the same wigwam or village of that 
nation, were both in safety while they remained. There 
are some things in which they differ from our Hurons. 
They are larger, stronger, and better formed. They 
also entertain a great affection for the dead. * * * 
The Sonontonheronons [Senecas], one of the Iroquois 
nations the nearest to and most dreaded by the Hurons, 
are not more than a day's journey distant from the east- 
ernmost village of the Neuter Nation, named Onguiaahra 
[Niagara], of the same name as the river." 

It would seem, then, that this name, Neuter Nation, 
as applied to this tribe, was an appellation used merely 
to indicate a peculiarity of its location, or of the rela- 
tion in which it stood to the hostile tribes living to 
the north and south of it. The Indians, it is needless 
to say, were not philologists, and seem not to have 
objected to the names applied to them, nor to have 
criticised the erroneous pronunciation of words of their 
own dialects. 

In the extract given above, the name of our river first 
appears in type. Its orthography will be noted as pe- 
culiar. It is one of forty different ways of spelling the 
2a 



22 NIAGARA. 

name, thirty-nine of which are given in the index volume 
of the Colonial History of New York, and the fortieth, 
the most pertinent to our present purpose, in Drake's 
"Book of the Indians," seventh edition. Prefixed to 
"Book First" is a "Table of the Principal Tribes," in 
which we find the following: 

" Nicariagas, once about Michilimakinak ; joined the 
Iroquois in 1723." 

M. Charlevoix, apparently using the facts stated in 
one of Lalement's letters and quoting also a portion 
of its language, says : " A people larger, stronger, and 
better formed than any other savages, and who lived 
south of the Huron country, were visited by the 
Jesuits, who preached to them the Kingdom of God. 
They were called the Neuter Nation, because they took 
no part in the wars which desolated the country. 
But in the end they could not themselves escape entire 
destruction. To avoid the fury of the Iroquois, they 
finally joined them against the Hurons, but gained nothing 
by the union." Later, he says they were destroyed 
about the year 1643. But we have before observed that 
Father Raugeneau states that their destruction occurred 
in 165 I. The tribe mentioned by Drake was probably a 
remnant that escaped in the final overthrow of their nation 
in this last-named year, and sought refuge at Mackinaw, 
among the Hurons, who had previously retreated to this 
almost inaccessible locality, in order, also, to escape from the 
all-conquering Iroquois. After the lapse of nearly three- 
quarters of a century, when the hostility of the latter had 
subsided, and they had themselves been weakened and 




Opposite page 23. The Voungest Inhabitant. 



HISTORY. 23 

subdued by the whites, the wretched remnant of the 
Niagaras, with that strong love of home so characteristic 
of the Indian, returned to their native hunting-grounds, 
where they remained for a few years, and then joined their 
conquerors in that mournful procession of their race 
toward the setting sun. If there were a Nemesis for 
nations as well as for individuals, it would be fearful to 
contemplate the time when the Anglo-Saxon should be 
called on to pay the " long arrears " of the Indians' 
"bloody debt." 

Returning to the orthography of our name, we find 
on Sanson's map of Canada, published in Paris in 1657, 
that it is shortened into " Oniagra," and on Coronelli's 
map of the same region, published in Paris in 1688, it 
crystallizes into Niagara. There is also on this map a 
village located on or near the site of Buffalo, designated 
as follows: '' Kak-kou-a-go-gah, a destroyed nation." 
This name bears a closer resemblance to the true one 
than several of the forty to which we have just referred, 
and if it be reduced to Kahkwa it would still be only 
a corrupt abbreviation of Niagara. 

More than fifty years ago, while leisurely traveling 
through western New York, the writer well remembers 
how his youthful ears were charmed with the flowing 
cadences of the better class of Indians, as they intoned 
rather than spoke the beautiful names which their 
ancestors had given to different localities. Every vowel 
was fully sounded. 

O-N-E-I-D- A was then Oh-ne-i-dah ; C- A-Y-U-G- A 
was Kah-yu-gah; G-E-N-E-S-E-E was Gen-e-se-e; 



24 NIAGARA. 

C-A-N-A-N-D-A-I-G-U-A was Kan-nan-dar-quah, 
and N-I-A-G-A-R-A was Ni-ah-gah-rah. 

In regard to the name, the pronunciation nearest to 
the original which it may be possible to perpetuate is Ni- 
ag-a-rah ; the accent on the second syllable, the vowel in 
the first pronounced as in the word nigh; the a in the 
third and fourth syllables but slightly abbreviated from 
the long a in far, and that in the second syllable but 
slightly aspirated. 



CHAPTER V. 

The lower Niagara — Fort Niagara — Fort Mississauga — Niagara Village-- 
Lewiston — Portage around the Falls — The first railroad in the United 
States — Fort Schlosser — The ambuscade at Devil's Hole — La Salle's 
vessel, the Griffin — The Niagara frontier. 

FROM the earliest visit of the French missionaries 
and voyageurs to the lake region, the banks of the 
lower Niagara were to them a favorite locality. Very 
early they were cleared of the grand forest which covered 
them, and the genial, fertile, and easily worked soil, en- 
riched by the deep vegetable mold that had been accu- 
mulating upon it for centuries, produced in lavish abun- 
dance wheat, maize, garden vegetables, and fruits, large 
and small. " On the 6th day of December, 1678," says 
Marshall, " La Salle, in his brigantine of ten tons, doubled 
the point where Fort Niagara now stands, and anchored 
in the sheltered waters of the river. The prosecution of 
his bold enterprise at that inclement season, involving the 
exploration of a vast and unknown country, in vessels 
built on the way, indicates the indomitable energy and 
self-reliance of the intrepid discoverer. His crew con- 
sisted of sixteen persons, under the immediate command of 
the Sieur de la Motte. The grateful Franciscans chanted 
' Te Deuvi laiidaimis ' as they entered the noble river. 
The strains of that ancient hymn of the Church, as they 



26 NIAGARA. 

rose from the deck of the adventurous bark, and echoed 
from shore and forest, must have startled the watchful 
Senecas with the unusual sound, as they gazed upon 
their strange visitors. Never before had white men, so 
far as history tells us, ascended the river." 

La Salle rested here for a time, but no defensive work 
was constructed until 1687, when the Marquis De Non- 
ville, returning from his famous expedition against the 
Senecas, fortified it, after the fashion of the time, with 
palisades and ditches. The small garrison of one hundred 
men which he left were obliged to abandon it the follow- 
ing season, after partially destroying it. By consent of 
the Iroquois it was reconstructed in stone in 1725-6. 

Opposite to Fort Niagara, which is on the Ameri- 
can side at the mouth of the river, are Fort Missis- 
sauga and the village of Niagara, formerly Newark, on 
the Canadian side. The village was captured by the 
English in 1759, and occupied for a time by Sir 
William Johnson, who completed here his treaty with 
the Indians by which they released to him the land 
on both sides of the river. The first Provincial Par- 
liament was held here in 1792, under the authority of 
Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe. In the same year the place 
was visited by the father of Queen Victoria. The pioneer 
newspaper of the Province was published here in 1795, and 
although it ceased soon after to be the seat of government, 
which was removed to York (now Toronto), still it was a 
thriving village of about five thousand inhabitants until 
the completion of the Welland canal, which entirely di- 
verted its trade and commerce, and left it to the uninter- 
rupted quiet of a rural town. Several Americans have 



HISTORY. 27 

purchased dwellings in the place for summer occupation. 
A mile above was Fort George, now a ruin. 

Seven miles above the mouth of the river, at the head 
of navigation, nestling at the foot of the so-called mount- 
ain, is Lewiston, named in 1805 in honor of Governor 
Lewis, of New York. Here, in 1678, La Salle " con- 
structed a cabin of palisades to serve as a magazine or 
storehouse." And this was the commencement of the 
portage to the river above the Falls, which passed over 
nearly the same route as the present road from Lewiston, 
which is still called the Portage Road. Here, too, the 
first railway in the United States was constructed. True, 
it was built of wood, and was called a tram-way. But a 
car was run upon it to transport goods up and down the 
mountain The motion of the car was regulated by a 
windlass, and it was supported on runners instead of 
wheels. This was a very good arrangement for getting 
freight down the hill, but not so good for getting it up. 
But the wages of labor were low in every sense, since 
many of the Indians, demoralized by the use of those 
two most pestilent drugs, rum and tobacco, would do 
a day's work for a pint of the former and a plug of the 
latter. 

The upper terminus of this portage was for many 
years merely an open landing-place for canoes and boats. 
In 1750, the French constructed a strong stockade- work 
on the bank of the river, above their barracks and store- 
houses. This they called Fort du Portage. It was burnt, 
in 1759, by Chabert Joncaire, who was in command of it 
when the British commenced the formidable and fatal 
campaign of that year against the French. After Fort 



28 NIAGARA. 

Niagara was surrendered to Sir William Johnson, Joncaire 
retired with his small garrison to the station on Chippewa 
Creek. 

In less than two years the work was rebuilt in a much 
more substantial manner by Captain Joseph Schlosser, a 
German who served in the British army in that campaign. 
It had the outline of a tolerably regular fortification, with 
rude bastions and connecting curtains, surrounded by a 
somewhat formidable ditch. The interior plateau was a 
little elevated and surrounded by an earth embankment 
piled against the inner side of the palisades, over which its 
defenders could fire with great effect. 

When the writer first saw its remains, the outlines and 
ditches of the work were distinct. Only some slight 
inequalities in the surface now indicate its site. Captain 
Schlosser was afterward promoted to the rank of colonel, 
and died in the fort. An oak slab, on which his name 
was cut, was standing at his grave just above the fort as 
late as the year 1808. 

Some sixty rods below is still standing what is believed 
to be the first civilized chimney built in this part of the 
country. It is a large and most substantial stone struct- 
ure, around which the French built their barracks. These 
were burnt by Joncaire on his retreat. A large dwelling- 
house was built to it by the English, which afforded shel- 
ter for many different occupants until it was burnt in 18 13. 
Its last occupant, before it was destroyed, kept it as a 
tavern, which became a favorite place for festive and holi- 
day gatherings. What hath been may be again. When the 
Falls shall have receded two miles, the brides and grooms 




Mouth of the ( hasm, and Brock's Monument. 

opposite page 29. 



HISTORY. 29 

of that age will find their Cataract House near the site of 
old Fort Schlosser. 

To the west of this old stone chimney stand the few 
surviving trees of the first apple orchard set out in this 
region. As early as 1796, it is described as being a "well- 
fenced orchard, containing 1200 trees." Not fifty are now 
standing. 

Across the river from Lewiston is Queenston, so named 
in honor of Queen Charlotte. The battle which bears its 
name was fought on the 13th of October, 1813, between 
the American and British armies. The former crossed the 
river, made the attack, and carried the heights. The com- 
mander of the British forces, General Brock, and one of 
his aids. Colonel McDonald, were killed. The British 
were reenforced, and the American militia refusing to cross 
over to aid the Americans, the latter were obliged to 
return across the river, leaving a number of prisoners in 
the hands of the enemy. Some years afterward, the Colo- 
nial Parliament caused a' fine monument to be erected on 
the heights to the memory of General Brock. It presents 
a conspicuous and imposing appearance from the terrace 
below. 

Two miles and a quarter above Lewiston is the Devil's 
Hole, famous as the scene of a short supplementary cam- 
paign, made against the English, by the Seneca Indians, 
in 1763. Though doubtless instigated by French traders, 
it was a purely Indian enterprise, gotten up among 
themselves, and commanded by Farmer's Brother, one of 
the Seneca chiefs, who was a fighter as well as an orator. It 
was one of the best planned and most successfully exe- 



30 NIACIARA. 

cuted military stratagems ever recorded. It was calculated 
upon the nicest balancing of facts and probabilities, and 
executed with unrivaled thoroughness and celerity. 

It was known to the Indians that the English were in 
the habit, almost daily, of sending supply trains, under 
escort, from Fort Niagara to Fort Schlosser. After unload- 
ing at the latter post, they returned to the former. They 
knew also that there was a smaller supporting force of one 
or two companies at Lewiston, which could join the escort 
from Fort Niagara, in case of an extra valuable train, and 
that the whole force at both places was not large enough 
to furnish an escort of more than four hundred men; they 
knew that the narrow pass at the Devil's Hole was the 
best point to place the ambuscade ; also that when the 
train went up they could see whether its escort was large or 
small, and so they would know whether they should con- 
centrate their force to attack the larger escort, or divide 
it and attack the train and small escort first and the reliev- 
ing force afterward. They conjectured that the train would 
have a small escort ; but if it should have a large one, so 
much the better, as there would be a larger number in 
a small space for their balls to riddle. They conjectured 
also that, if the escort were small, the firing on the first 
attack would be heard by the soldiers at Lewiston, and 
that they would hurry to the relief of their comrades, 
not dreaming of danger before they should reach them. 

The fatal result demonstrated the correctness of their 
reasoning. They made a double ambuscade : one for the 
train and escort, the other for the relieving force ; and 
they destroyed them both, only three of the first escaping 
and eight of the latter. This event occurred on the 14th 



HISTORY. 31 

of September, 1773. John Stedman commanded the 
supply train. At the first fire of the Indians, seeing the 
fatal snare, he wheeled his horse at once, and, spurring 
him through a gauntlet of bullets, reached Schlosser in 
safety. A wounded soldier concealed himself in the 
bushes, and the drummer-boy lodged in a tree as he 
fell down the bank. Eight of the relieving force escaped 
to Fort Niagara to tell the story of their defeat. 

Three miles above Schlosser is Cayuga Creek, near 
the mouth of which La Salle built the Griffin, a vessel of 
sixty tons burden, the first civilized craft that floated on 
the upper lakes, and the pioneer of an inland commerce 
of unrivaled growth and value. She reached Green Bay 
safely, but on her return voyage foundered with all on 
board in Lake Huron. 

The French also built some small vessels on Navy 
Island. The reenforcements sent from Venango for the 
French, during the siege of Fort Niagara by Sir William 
Johnson, in 1759, were landed on this island. To the 
east of it there is a large deep basin, formed at the foot 
of the channel, between Grand and Buckhorn islands. 
The upper part of this channel being narrow, the basin 
appears like a bay. In this bay the French burnt and 
sunk the two vessels, as is supposed, which brought 
down the Venango reenforcements ; hence the name 
"Burnt Ship Bay." The writer has seen the ribs and 
timbers of these vessels beneath the water, and caught 
many fine perch which had their haunts near them. The 
Niagara frontier was the theater of great activity during 
the War of 1812. 



PART IL— GEOLOGY. 



CHAPTER VI. 

America the old world — Geologically recent origin of the Falls — Evidence 
thereof — Captain Williams's surveys for a ship canal — Former extent of 
Lake Michigan — Its outlet into the Illinois River — The Niagara barrier 
— How broken through — The birth of Niagara. 

IF Professor Agassiz and Elie De Beaumont are cor- 
rect in their geological reading, America is the old 
world rather than the new, and the northern portion of 
it, stretching from Lake Huron eastward to Labrador and 
northward toward the Arctic, was the first to be lifted into 
the genial light of the sun. And Professor Lyell has re- 
course to the vast stellar spaces for a standard by which 
to estimate " the interval of time which divides the human 
epoch from the origin of the coralline limestone over 
which the Niagara is precipitated at the Falls." "The 
Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas," he continues, " have 
not only begun to exist as lofty mountain chains, but the 
solid materials of which they are composed have been 
slowly elaborated beneath the sea within the stupendous 
interval of ages here alluded to." 

A little more than thirty years ago, Professor Agassiz 



GEOLOGY. 33 

made a tour to the Upper Lakes with a class of students, 
for the purpose of giving them practical lessons in 
geology and other branches of natural science. The 
day was devoted to outdoor examinations of different 
localities, and in the evening was given a familiar lecture 
expository of the day's work. One of the places thus 
visited was Niagara, and it was the writer's good- 
fortune to be able to listen to the instructive lecture which 
followed the examination. Professor Agassiz concurs 
with other geologists in the opinion that the Falls were 
once at Lewiston, and one of the most interesting portions 
of the lecture was his animated description of the retroces- 
sion of the Falls, traced step by step back to their present 
position. From this oral exposition, from other high geo- 
logical authorities, and from personal observation extend- 
ing through a quarter of a century, the writer has derived 
the facts herein presented. 

There can be no doubt that at a comparatively recent 
geological period the Falls of Niagara had no existence. 
It may suffice to mention two facts which are conclusive 
on this point. Dr. Houghton, geologist of the State of 
Michigan, stated in his report that the elevation of Lake 
Michigan above tide-water is five hundred and seventy- 
eight feet. That of Lake Erie, as shown by the surveys 
of the Erie Canal, is five hundred and sixty-eight feet, the 
difference of level between the two being ten feet. The 
fall or descent in the Niagara River from Lake Erie to 
Gill Creek, a few rods above the site of old Fort Schlosser, 
is twenty feet. Hence we learn that the surface of the 
water in Lake Michigan is thirty feet higher than that 
3 



34 NIAGARA. 

of the Niagara River near the mouth of Gill Creek. If, 
therefore, we find anywhere below the Falls a barrier 
drawn across this river that is more than thirty feet high, 
its water would thereby be set back to Lake Michigan. 
A moderate elevation above this thirty feet would serve 
as a safe shore-line for still water. 

The existence of this barrier has been demonstrated. 
In the year 1835, by direction of the War Department, 
Captain W. G. Williams, of the United States Topograph- 
ical Engineers, surveyed three routes for a canal around 
Niagara Falls. The first of these routes was run from the 
river nearly in a straight line to the head of Bloody Run, 
and thence a portion of the way over the terrace laid bare 
by the rapid subsidence of the water after the barrier had 
been broken through. The second route, commencing at 
the same point with the first, — the old Schlosser Store- 
house, just above Gill Creek, — was run up the valley of 
.the creek, through the ridge above Lewiston, at a slight 
depression in the general line of the hill, and thence to 
Lake Ontario by two different routes. The highest point 
in the ridge was found to be sixty feet above the surface 
of the water in the river at the starting point. Here, then, 
is found the requisite barrier — a dam thirty feet higher 
than the water in Lake Michigan, and having a base, as 
will be seen by reference to the map, of two and a half 
miles in breadth. This was its breadth at the time of the 
survey. But a careful observance of the topography of 
the banks on both sides of the river will show that it must 
have been originally not less than twice that breadth, and 
that the depressions now existing are the results of the 
denudation caused by the removal of the barrier. 



GEOLOGY. 35 

While this barrier was unbroken, Lake Erie as extended 
would have covered all land that was not twenty-six feet 
higher than the present level of the river at old Schlosser 
landing, since the water there is sixteen feet below the 
level of Lake Erie. It is not difficult to trace this barrier 
on a good map. From old Fort Grey it stretches east- 
ward a short distance past Batavia, and thence turns to 
the south through Wyoming into Cattaraugus County. 
In the latter county it forms the summit level of the 
Genesee Valley Canal. This summit is a swamp sixteen 
hundred and twenty-three feet above tide water, and the 
water runs from it northerly through the Genesee River 
into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and southerly, through the 
Alleghany, into the Gulf of Mexico, while within a short 
distance rises Cattaraugus Creek which flows west into 
Lake Erie. 

The gradual rise of the Niagara barrier as it extends 
to the east was demonstrated by the surveys of Captain 
Williams. By the Gill Creek line to Lewiston he found its 
elevation above the river, as has been stated, to be sixty 
feet. By the Cayuga Creek line to Pekin it was sixty- 
four feet, and by the Tonawanda Creek line to Lockport 
it was eighty-four feet, as is also shown by the surveys of 
the Erie Canal. 

To the west the barrier extends from Brock's Monu- 
ment to the ridge which bounds the westerly side of the 
valley of the Chippewa Creek, and thence around the 
head of Lake Ontario into the Simcoe Hills. 

At that period all the islands in the Niagara River 
valley were submerged. The lower sections of the valleys 
of the Chippewa, Cayuga, Tonawanda, and Buffalo creeks 



36 NIAGARA. 

were also submerged. The site of Buffalo was, probably, 
a small island, and many other similar islands were scat- 
tered over the broad expanse of water. 

And this brings us to our second cardinal fact. Lake 
Michigan, having absorbed or spread over all the vast 
water-links in the great chain between Superior and 
Ontario, was the most stupendous body of fresh water 
on the globe. Its drainage was to the south, through the 
valleys of the Des Plaines, Kankakee, Illinois, and Missis- 
sippi rivers, into the Gulf of Mexico. The evidence of 
this fact is abundant. The survey of the Illinois Central 
Railroad shows that the surface of Lake Michigan is three 
hundred feet above the line of low water in the Ohio 
River at Cairo, where it joins the Mississippi. It also 
shows that the low-water line of the Kankakee, where 
the railroad crosses it, is eleven feet above the surface of 
the lake. This river, which forms the north-eastern 
branch of the Illinois, rises in the State of Indiana, near 
South Bend, two miles from the St. Joseph. From its 
very commencement at its head-springs it is a shallow 
channel in the middle of a swamp, — called on the maps 
the "Kankakee Pond," — nearly a hundred miles long, 
and from two to five miles wide. On its north side, in 
Porter County, is a broad cove, with a small stream in 
the midst of it, which reaches up due north to within a 
stone's-throw of the south branch of the East Calumick 
River, which empties into the south-west corner of Lake 
Michigan. 

More than thirty years ago, while traveling by stage 
from Logansport, Indiana, to Chicago, the writer was 
told by a fellow-passenger that it was not an unusual 



GEOLOGY. 37 

thing, on the occurrence of a strong north wind during 
the spring floods, to cross with boats from this branch of 
the East Calumick into the Kankakee Pond through this 
cove. We have not been able to obtain any authentic 
topographical survey which shows the elevation that 
must be overcome in order to effect this meeting of the 
waters. 

Again : The river Des Plaines rises near the northern 
line of the State of Illinois, and running south parallel 
with the lake shore, at its junction with the Kankakee 
forms the Illinois. The Des Plaines is only ten miles west 
of Chicago. One of its eastern tributaries rises very near 
the head-waters of the south branch of the Chicago 
River, and often, when flooded by heavy rains, its waters 
flow over into the lake. At this point, also, the Jesuits 
and the early settlers were in the habit of crossing in 
their boats to the Des Plaines, and thence into the Illinois. 
The writer was informed by Colonel William A. Bird, the 
last Surveyor-in-Chief of the Boundary Commission, that 
when the party was at Mackinaw, in the spring of 1820, 
Mr. Ramsey Crooks, the adventurous and enterprising 
agent of John Jacob Astor, came up to that place from 
Joliet on the Illinois in one of the big canoes so gener- 
ally used at that day for navigating the lakes, and that 
Mr. Crooks informed them that he crossed from the Des 
Plaines into Lake Michigan without taking his canoe out 
of the water. The deep cut in the Illinois and Michigan 
Canal, recently excavated by the city of Chicago in order 
to improve its sewer drainage, is quite uniform at its up- 
per surface, and is sixteen to eighteen feet deep for a dis- 
tance of twenty-six miles. The bottom of this cut is six 
3a 



38 NIAGARA. 

feet below the lowest water-mark ever noted in the lake. 
At the point where the deep cut reaches the Des Plaines, 
it is ten feet lower than the bottom of the river. It is 
sixteen miles further down before the bottom of the cut 
and the river coincide with each other. Nearly the whole 
of this distance it is necessary to maintain a guard-bank, 
to protect the canal from the inundations of the river. 
Here we find there is a dam, only about twelve feet high, 
that once separated the waters of the lake from those of 
the Gulf of Mexico. 

There were, therefore, two courses through which the 
waters of Lake Michigan could once have passed into the 
Illinois — the first through the Des Plaines, and the second 
from the head-springs of the East Calumick into the 
great north cove of the Kankakee Pond. When we con- 
sider the immense drainage which must have been dis- 
charged through these channels into the valley of the 
Illinois, we can well understand the gigantic proportions 
of that valley when compared with the stream which now 
flows through it. The perpendicular and water-worn 
sides of Starved Rock, below Ottawa, attest the magni- 
tude of the lake-like floods which must once have dashed 
around them. 

Having established the existence of the Niagara bar- 
rier, it remains to analyze its structure, and then to search 
out the agencies by which it was broken down. First, 
in regard to its organization. An examination of the 
locality reveals the fact that the portion of the ridge 
lying between old Fort Grey and Brock's Monument was 
of a peculiar character. At the former point the hard, 
compact clay had in it but a slight mixture of gray loam 



GEOLOGY. 39 

and sand. At the latter point, fine gravel was plentifully 
mingled with this loam. This latter mass, being quite 
porous, would rapidly become saturated with water, and 
its component parts be easily separated. The decliv- 
ity of the high, hard, clay bank, down to the rock at 
the edge of the precipice, is abrupt on the American 
side, while on the opposite side the ascent toward 
Brock's Monument and above is gradual. This forma- 
tion extends upward about one mile and a half, when the 
gravel and loam disappear, and the hard clay succeeds 
and continues upward with a gradual downward slope 
nearly to the Falls. 

This upper drift was about twenty feet thick, and rested 
on a laminated stratum of the Niagara limestone. This 
stratum, though quite compact, and having its seams 
closely jointed, was not so thoroughly indurated as the 
lower strata of the Niagara group, and its thin plates 
were more easily displaced and broken up. The depres- 
sion marked in the sixth mile of the profile referred to 
was evidently cut out by the waters of Fish Creek, after 
the barrier had been removed, since the land near the 
head-waters of this stream is higher than at the point 
where the line runs through the ridge. It is also notice- 
able that the ridge, at this point, approaches the brink of 
the escarpment more nearly than at any other, and the 
sharp declivity of its northern face is clearly shown on 
the profile in the accompanying map. 

Within the last century there have been two, and per- 
haps more, large tidal waves on the Great Lakes. There 
have also been many severe gales, which have inundated 
the low lands around their shores, and attacked, with de- 



40 NIAGARA. 

structive effect, their higher banks. One of these gales 
is mentioned in another place. It came from about two 
points north of west, and, as noted, raised the water six 
feet on the rapids above the Falls. In the narrow por- 
tions of the river above, it must have elevated the water 
still more. Of course a much higher rise would have 
been produced by the force of such a gale acting upon 
the vastly increased surface of the larger lake. 

The first serious impression upon the Niagara barrier 
must have been made by these two mighty forces. By 
them, undoubtedly, was made the first breach over its 
top, thus commencing that slow but sure denudation 
which finally reached the rock below. And by their aid 
even the rock itself was removed. 

Here, then, is the composition and structure of our 
dam. It is thirty feet high, with a base two and a half 
miles certainly, and probably five, in width. How to 
break through it is the problem to be solved by the great 
inland sea which laves it, so that the water may flow 
onward and downward to the Atlantic. 

Fortunately we have, all along the shores of our inland 
lakes, an annual demonstration of the method by which 
such problems are solved. A constant abrasion of their 
banks is produced by the action of water, frost, and ice. 
And these are the resistless elements which, by their 
persistent and powerful action during the lapse of ages, 
excavated a channel for the waters of the Niagara. The 
gradual upward slope of the rock and the thick upper 
drift broke the force of the huge waves that were oc- 
casionally dashed upon them. Their position could not 



GEOLOGY. 41 

have been more favorable to resist attack. It was a 
Malakofif of earth on a foundation of rock. Little by little 
the refluent waves carried back portions of the crumbled 
mass, and deposited them in the neighboring depres- 
sions. Slowly, wearily, desultorily, the erosion and des- 
quamation went on. At last the upper drift was broken 
down, and its crumbled remains were swept from the 
rock. 

Then the insidious forces of heat and cold, sun and 
frost became potent. The thin laminae of limestone were 
loosened by the frost, broken up and disintegrated. At 
last a thin sheet of water was driven through the gorge by 
some fierce gale. The steep declivity of the counterscarp 
was then fatally attacked, and after a time its perpen- 
dicular face was laid bare. Thenceforth the elements had 
the top and one end of the rocky mass to work on, and 
they worked at a tremendous advantage. The breaking 
up and disintegration of the rock went on. It was gradu- 
ally crumbled into sand, which was washed off by the 
rains or swept away by the winds. Finally a channel 
was excavated, of which the bottom was lower than the 
surface of the great lake above ; the sparkling waters 
rushed in, dashed over the precipice, and Niagara was 
born. 

As the water worked its way over the precipice 
gradually, so it would gradually excavate its channel 
to Lake Ontario, and it is not probable that any great 
inundation of the lower terrace could have occurred. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Composition of the terrace cut through — Why retrocession is possible — 
Three sections from Lewiston to the Falls — Devil's Hole — The Medina 
group — Recession long checked — The Whirlpool — The narrowest part 
of the river — The mirror — Depth of the water in the chasm — Former 
grand Fall. 



THE water having laid bare the face of the mountain 
barrier from top to bottom, we are enabled to exam- 
ine the composition of the mass through which it slowly 
cut its way. After removing the thin plates of the upper 
stratum, as we descend, according to Professor Hall, we 
find: 

1. Niagara limestone — compact and geodiferous. 

2. Soft argillo-calcareous shale. 

3. Compact gray limestone. 

4. Thin layers of green shale. 

5. Gray and mottled sandstone, constituting with 
those below the Medina group. 

6. Red shale and marl, with thin courses of sandstone 
near the top. 

7. Gray quartzose sandstone. 

8. Red shaly sandstone and marl. 

Before reaching the Whirlpool the mass becomes, 
practically, resolved into numbers three, four, and five, 



GEOLOGY. 43 

the limestone, as a general rule, growing thicker and 
harder, and the shale also, as we follow up the stream. 

The reason why retrocession of the Falls is possible 
is found in the occurrence of the shale noted above as 
underlying the rock. It is a species of indurated clay, 
harder or softer according to the pressure to which it 
may have been subjected. When protected from the 
action of the elements it retains its hardness, but when 
exposed to them it gradually softens and crumbles away. 
After a time the superstratum of rock, which is full of 
cracks and seams, is undermined and precipitated into 
the chasm below. If the stratum of shale lies at or near 
the bottom of the channel below the Falls, it will be 
measurably protected from the action of the elements. 
In this case retrocession will necessarily be very gradual. 
If above the Falls the shale projects upward from the 
channel below, then in proportion to the elevation and 
thickness of its stratum will be the ease and rapidity of 
disintegration and retrocession. The shale furnishes, 
therefore, a good standard by which to determine the 
comparative rapidity with which the retrocession has been 
accomplished at different points. 

From the base of the escarpment at Lewiston up 
the narrow bend in the channel above Devil's Hole, a 
distance of four and a quarter miles, the shale varies in 
thickness above the water, from one hundred and thirty 
feet at the commencement of the gorge, to one hundred 
and ten feet at the upper extremity of the bend. Here, 
although there is very little upward curve in the lime- 
stone, there is yet a decided curve upward in the Medina 



44 NIAGARA. 

group, noticed above, composed mainly of a hard, red 
sandstone. It projects across the chasm, and also ex- 
tends upward to near the neck of the Whirlpool, where 
it dips suddenly downward. The two strata of shale, 
becoming apparently united, follow its dip and also 
extend upward until they reach their maximum elevation 
;iear the middle of the Whirlpool. Thence the shale 
gradually dips again to the Railway Suspension Bridge, 
three-quarters of a mile above. For the remaining one 
and a half miles from this bridge to the present site of 
the Falls the dip is downward. .We may then divide 
this reach of the Niagara River into three sections : 

First. From Lewiston to the upper end of the Bend 
above Devil's Hole. 

Second. Thence to the head of the rapid above the 
Railway Suspension Bridge. 

Third. Thence to the present site of the Falls. 

We are now prepared to consider these sections 
with reference to the retrocession of the fall of water. 
Through the first section the shale, as before noted, 
lying much above the water surface, and the superposed 
limestone being rather soft and thinner than at any point 
above, the retreat was probably quite uniform and com- 
paratively rapid, about the same progress being made 
in each of the many centuries required to accomplish its 
whole length. Professor James Hall, in his able and 
interesting Report on the Geology of the Fourth District 
of the State of New York, suggests the probability of 
there having been three distinct Falls, one below the 
other, for some distance up-stream, when the retrocession 
first began. The average width of this section between 



GEOLOGY. 45 

the banks is one thousand feet. About one mile below 
its upper extremity is " Devil's Hole," a side-chasm 
cut out of the American bank of the river by a small 
stream called " Bloody Run," which, in heavy rains, 
forms a torrent. The "Hole" has been made by the 
detrition and washing out of the shale and the fall of the 
overlying rock. A short distance above, on the Cana- 
dian side, lies Foster's Glen, a singular and extensive 
lateral excavation left dry by the receding flood. The 
clifif at its upper end is bare and water-worn, showing 
that the arc or curve of the Falls must have been greater 
here than at any point below. 

Near the upper end of this section there is a rocky 
cape, which juts out from the Canadian bank, and reaches 
nearly two-thirds of the distance across the chasm. At 
this point the great Fall met with a more obstinate and 
longer continued resistance than at any other, for the 
reason that the fine, firm sandstone belonging to the 
Medina group, as has been stated, here projects across 
the channel of the river, and, forming a part of its bed, 
rises upward several feet above the surface of the water. 
And here this hard, compact rock held the cataract for 
many centuries. The crooked channel which incessant 
friction and hammering finally cut through that rock is 
the narrowest in the river, being only two hundred and 
ninety-two feet wide, and the fierce rush of the water 
through the narrow, rock-ribbed gorge is almost appall- 
ing to the beholder. The average width between the 
banks of this section is about nine hundred feet. 

In the second section is found the Whirlpool, one of 
the most interesting and attractive portions of the river. 



46 NIAGARA. 

The large basin in which it lies was cut out much more 
rapidly than any other part of the chasm. And this for 
the reason that, in addition to the thick stratum of shale, 
there was, underlying the channel, a large pocket, and 
probably, also, a broad seam or cleavage, filled with gravel 
and pebbles. Indeed, there is a broad and very ancient 
cleavage in the rock-wall on the Canadian side, extending 
from near the top of the bank to an unknown depth below. 
Its course can be traced from the north side of the pool 
some distance in a north-westerly direction. Of course 
the resistless power of the falling water was not long 
restrained by these feeble barriers, and here the broadest 
and deepest notch of any given century was made. The 
name. Whirlpool, is not quite accurate, since the body of 
water to which it is applied is rather a large eddy, in 
which small whirlpools are constantly forming and break- 
ing. The spectator cannot realize the tremendous power 
exerted by these pools, unless there is some object float- 
ing upon the surface by which it may be demonstrated. 
Logs from broken rafts are frequently carried over the 
Falls, and, when they reach this eddy, tree-trunks from 
two to three feet in diameter and fifty feet long, after a few 
preliminary and stately gyrations, are drawn down end- 
wise, submerged for awhile and then ejected with great 
force, to resume again their devious way in the resistless 
current. And they will often be kept in this monotonous 
round from four to six weeks before escaping to the rapids 
below. 

The cleft in the bed-rock which forms the outlet 
of the basin is one of the narrowest parts of the river. 



GEOLOGY. 47 

being only four hundred feet in width. Standing on one 
side of this gorge, and considering that the whole volume 
of the water in the river is rushing through it, the specta- 
tor witnesses a manifestation of physical force which 
makes a more vivid impression upon his mind than even 
the great Fall itself No extravagant attempt at fine 
writing, no studied and elaborate description, can exag- 
gerate the wonderful beauty and fascination of this pool. 
It is separated from the habitations of men, at a dis- 
tance from any highway, and lies secluded in the midst 
of a small tract of wood which has fortunately been pre- 
served around it, in which the dark and pale greens of 
stately pines and cedars predominate. Within the basin 
the waters are rushing onward, plunging downward, leap- 
ing upward, combing over at the top in beautiful waves 
and ruffles of dazzling whiteness, shaded down through 
all the opalescent tints to the deep emerald at their base. 
It is ever varying, never presenting the same aspect in 
any two consecutive moments, and the beholder is lost in 
admiration as he comprehends more and more the many- 
sided and varied beauties of the matchless scene. No one 
visiting the Whirlpool should fail to go down the bank to 
the water's edge. On a bright summer morning, after a 
night shower has laid the dust, cleansed and brightened the 
foliage of shrub and tree, purified and glorified the atmos- 
phere, there are few more inviting and charming views. 

The remaining portion of this section is the Whirlpool 
rapid, a beautiful curve, reaching up just above the Rail- 
way Suspension Bridge. It was the most tumultuous and 
dangerous portion of the voyage once made by the Maid 



48 NIAGARA. 

of the Mist. The water is in a perpetual tumult, a perfect 
embodiment of the spirit of unrest. Owing to the rapid- 
ity of the descent and the narrowness of the curve, the 
water is forced into a broken ridge in the center of the 
channel. There, in its wild tumult, it is tossed up into 
fanciful cones and mounds, which are crowned with a 
flashing coronal of liquid gems by the isolated drops and 
delicate spray thrown off from the whirling mass, and 
rising sometimes to the height of thirty feet. Standing 
on the bridge and looking down-stream, the spectator will 
see near by, on the American shore, a very good illustra- 
tion of the manner in which the shale, there cropping 
out above the surface of the water, is worn away, leaving 
the superposed rock projecting beyond it. 

In the third and last section the shale continues its 
downward dip, and at several places entirely disappears. 
The rock lying upon it is quite compact, and some of it 
very hard. The deep water into which the falling water 
was formerly received partially protected the shale, so 
that many centuries must have elapsed before the excava- 
tion of this section was completed. Its average width is 
eleven hundred feet. 

Sixty rods below the American Fall is the upper Sus- 
pension Bridge. From this bridge, looking downward, no 
one can fail to be impressed with the serene and quiet 
beauty of the mirror below, reflecting from the surface 
of its emerald and apparently unfathomable depths life- 
size and life-like images of surrounding objects. The calm, 
majestic, unbroken current is in striking contrast with the 
fall and foam and chopping sea above. 



GEOLOGY. . 49 

The greatest depth of the water in mid-channel between 
the two Suspension Bridges, as ascertained by measuring, 
is two hundred feet. But it must be borne in mind that 
this is the depth of the water flowing above the immense 
mass of rock, stones, and gravel which has fallen into the 
channel. The bottom of the chasm, therefore, must be 
more than a hundred feet lower, since the fallen rocks, 
having tumbled down promiscuously, must occupy much 
more space than they did in their original bed. There 
are isolated points, as at the Whirlpool and Devil's Hole, 
where the river is wider than in any part of this section, 
but the depth is less. Taking into consideration both 
depth and width, this is the finest part of the chasm. 
And for this reason chiefly, when the great cataract was 
at a point about one hundred rods below the upper 
bridge, it must have presented its sublimest aspect. The 
secondary bank on each side of the river is here high 
and firm, whereby the whole mass of water must have 
been concentrated into a single channel of greater depth 
at the top of the Fall than it could have had at any other 
point. And here the mighty column exerted its most 
terrific force, rolling over the precipice in one broad, 
vertical curve, water falling into water, and lifting up, per- 
petually, that snowy veil of mist and spray which con- 
stitutes at any point its crowning beauty. 



4 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Recession above the present position of the Falls — Tlie Falls will be 
higher as they recede — Reason why — Professor Tyndall's prediction — 
Present and former accumulations of rock — Terrific power of the 
elements — Ice and ice bridges — Remarkable geognosy of the lake 
region. 

THERE is probably little foundation for the appre- 
hension which has been expressed that the recession 
of the chasm will ultimately reach Lake Erie and lower 
its level, or that the bed of the river will be worn into an 
inclined plane by gradual detrition, thus changing the 
perpendicular Fall into a tumultuous rapid. And for 
these reasons: The contour or arc of the Fall in 
its present location is much greater than it could have 
been at any point below. Consequently a much smaller 
body of water, less effective in force, is passed over any 
given portion of the precipice, the current being also 
divided by Goat and Luna islands. Also, the river 
bed increases in width above the Fall until it reaches 
Grand Island, which, being twelve miles in length by 
eight in width, divides the river into two broad channels, 
thus still further diminishing the weight and force of the 
falling water. The average width of the channel from 
Lewiston upward is one thousand feet. The present 



GEOLOGY. 5 1 

curve formed by the Falls and islands is four thousand two 
hundred feet. Of course the water concentrated in mass 
and force below the present Falls must have proved 
vastly more effective in disintegrating and breaking down 
the shale and limestone than it possibly can be at any 
point above. After receding half a mile further the curve 
will be more than a mile in extent, and hold this length 
for two additional miles, provided the water shall cover 
the bed-rock from shore to shore. 

In reference to this recession, Professor Tyndall, in 
the closing paragraph of a lecture on Niagara, delivered 
before the Royal Institute, after his return to England, 
says : " In conclusion, we may say a word regarding the 
proximate future of Niagara. At the rate of excavation 
assigned to it by Sir Charles Lyell, namely, a foot a year, 
five thousand years will carry the Horseshoe Fall far 
higher than Goat Island. As the gorge recedes * * * 
it will totally drain the American branch of the river, the 
channel of which will in due time become cultivatable 
land. * * # f o those who visit Niagara five millen- 
niums hence, I leave the verification of this prediction." 
In his "Travels in the United States," in 1 841-2, vol. i, 
page 27, Sir Charles Lyell says: "Mr. Bakewell calcu- 
lated that, in the forty years preceding 1830, the Niagara 
had been going back at the rate of about a yard annually, 
but I conceive that one foot per year would be a more 
probable conjecture." 

Thus it appears that the rate suggested was the result 
of a conjecture founded on a guess. From certain oral and 
written statements which we have been able to collect, 



52 NIAGARA. 

we have made an estimate of the time which was required 
to excavate the present chasm-channel from Lewiston 
upward. During the last hundred and seventy-five years 
certain masses of rock have been known to fall from the 
water-covered surface of the cataract, and a statement as 
to the surface-measure of each mass was made. In using 
these data it is supposed that each break extended to the 
bottom of the precipice, although the whole mass did 
not fall at once. Of course, the substructure must have 
worn out before the superstructure could have gone 
down. Father Hennepin says that the projection of the 
rock on the American side was so great that "four 
coaches" could "drive abreast" beneath it. Seven years 
later. Baron La Hontan, referring to the Canadian side, 
says "three men" could "cross in abreast." We cannot 
assign less than twenty-four feet to the four coaches 
moving abreast. The projection on the Canadian side 
has diminished but little, whereas the overhang on the 
American side has almost entirely fallen, as is abundantly 
shown by the huge pile of large bowlders now lying at 
the foot of the precipice. Authentic accounts of similar 
abrasions are the following: In 1818, a mass one hundred 
and sixty feet long by sixty feet wide ; and later in the 
same year a huge mass, the top surface of which was 
estimated at half an acre. If this estimate was correct, it 
would show an abrasion equivalent to nearly one foot of 
the whole surface of the Canadian Fall. In 1829 two other 
masses, equal to the first that fell in 18 18, went down. 
In 1850 there fell a smaller mass, about fifty feet long 
and ten feet wide. In 1852, a triangular mass fell, which 



GEOLOGY. 53 

was about six hundred feet long, extending south from 
Goat Island beyond the Terrapin Tower, and having an 
average width of twenty feet. Here we have approximate 
data on which to base our calculations. In addition 
to these, it is supposed that there have been unob- 
served abrasions by piecemeal that equaled all the others. 
Combining these minor masses into one grand mass and 
omitting fractions, the result is a bowlder containing some- 
thing more than twelve million cubic feet of rock. If this 
were spread over a surface one thousand feet wide and one 
hundred and sixty feet deep — about the average width 
and depth of the Falls below the ferry — it would make a 
block about seventy-eight feet thick. This, for one hun- 
dred and seventy-five years, is a little over five inches 
a year. At this rate, to cut back six miles — the pres- 
ent length of the chasm — would require nearly sixty 
thousand years, or ten thousand years for a single mile, 
a mere shadow of time compared with the age of the 
coralline limestone over which the water flows. So, if 
this estimate is reasonably correct, two millenniums will 
be exhausted before Professor Tyndall's prophecy can be 
fulfilled. 

As to the "entire drainage of the American branch" 
of the river, we must be incredulous when we consider the 
fact that the bottom of that branch, two and a half miles 
above the Falls, is thirty-two feet higher than the upper 
surface of the water where it goes over the clifif, and that 
there is a continuous channel the whole distance varying 
from twelve to twenty feet in depth; and the further fact 
that, in the great syncope of the water which occurred in 
4a 



54 NIAGARA. 

1848, the topography, so to speak, of the river bottom 
was clearly revealed. It showed that the water was so 
divided, half a mile above the rapids, as to form a huge 
Y, through both branches of which it flowed over the 
precipice below, thus showing that nothing but an entire 
stoppage of the water can leave the American channel 
dry. But even if this part of Professor Tyndall's pre- 
diction should be verified, it is to be feared that his 
"vision" of "cultivatable land" in the case supposed 
will prove to be visionary. "To complete my knowledge," 
says Professor Tyndall, "it was necessary to see the 
Fall from the river below it, and long negotiations were 
necessary to secure the means of doing so. The only 
boat fit for the undertaking had been laid up for the 
winter, but this difficulty * * * was overcome." Two 
oarsmen were obtained. The elder assumed command, 
and "hugged" the cross-freshets instead of striking 
out into the smoother water. I asked him why he did 
so ; he replied that they were directed outward and not 
downward." If Professor Tyndall had been at Niagara 
during the summer season, he would have had the oppor- 
tunity, daily, of seeing the Fall "from below," and of 
going up or down the river on any day in a boat. All 
the boats (four) at the ferry are "fit for the undertaking," 
and all of them are, very properly, "laid up in the 
winter," since they would be crushed by the ice if left in 
the water. The oarsmen do not consider themselves very 
shrewd because they have discovered that it is easier to 
row across a current than to row against it. The party 
had an exciting and, according to Professor Tyndall's 



GEOLOGY. 55 

account, a perilous trip. It is an exciting trip to a 
stranger, but the writer has made it so frequently that it 
has ceased to be a novelty. 

"We reached," he says, "the Cave [of the Winds] and 
entered it, first by a wooden way carried over the bowl- 
ders, and then along a narrow ledge to the point eaten 
deepest into the shale." He also speaks of the "blinding 
hurricane of spray hurled against" him. This last cir- 
cumstance, probably, prevented him from noticing the 
fact that no shale is visible in the Cave of the Winds. Its 
wall from the top downward, some distance beneath the 
place where he stood, is formed entirely of the Niagara 
limestone. But it is checkered by many seams, and is 
easily abraded by the elements. 

Long-continued observation of the locality enables the 
writer to offer still other reasons why the Fall will never 
dwindle down to a rapid. As has already been noticed, 
the course of the river above the present Falls is a little 
south of west, so that it flows across the trend of the bed- 
rock. Hence, as the Falls recede there can be no diminu- 
tion in their altitude resulting from the dip of this rock. 
On the contrary, there is a rise of fifty feet to the head of 
the present rapids, and a further rise of twenty feet to the 
level of Lake Erie. During 187 1—2, the bed of the river 
from Buffalo to Cayuga Creek was thoroughly examined 
for the purpose of locating piers for railway bridges over 
the stream. The greatest depth at which they found the 
rock — just below Black Rock dam — was forty-five feet. 
Generally the rock was found to be only twenty to twenty- 
five feet below the surface of the water. 



56 NIAGARA. 

About five miles above the present Falls there is, in 
the bottom of the river, a shelf of rock stretchiner, in 
nearly a straight line, across the channel to Grand Island, 
and having, apparently, a perpendicular face about six- 
teen inches deep. Its presence is indicated by a short 
but decided curve in the surface of the water above it, 
the water itself varying in depth from eleven to sixteen 
feet. The shelf above referred to extends under Grand 
Island and across the Canadian channel of the river, under 
which, however, its face is no longer perpendicular. If 
the Falls were at this point, they would be fifty-five feet 
higher than they are now, supposing the bed-rock to be 
firm. Now, by excavations made during the year 1870 
for the new railway from the Suspension Bridge to 
Buffalo, the surface rock was found to be compact and 
hard, much of it unusually so. As a general rule it is 
well known that the greater the depth at which any given 
kind of rock lies below the surface, and the greater the 
depth to which it is penetrated, the more compact and 
hard it will be found to be. The rock which was found 
to be so hard, in excavating for the railway, lies within 
six feet of the surface. The deepest water in the Niagara 
River, between the Falls and Buffalo, is twenty-five feet. 
At this point, then, it would seem that the shale of the 
Niagara group must be at such a depth that the top of it 
is below the surface of the water at the bottom of the 
present fall. Hence, being protected from the disin- 
tegrating action of the atmosphere, and the incessant 
chiseling of the dashing spray, it would make a firm foun- 
dation for the hard limestone which would form the per- 



GEOLOGY. 57 

pendicular ledge over which the water would fall. Sup- 
posing the bottom of the channel below this fall to have 
the same declivity as that for a mile below the present 
fall, the then cataract would be, as has been before 
stated, fifty- five feet higher than the present one. If we 
should allow fifty feet for a soft-surface limestone, full of 
cleavages and seams which might be easily broken down, 
still the new fall would be five feet higher than the old 
one. But, so far as can now be discovered, there is no 
geological necessity, so to speak, for making any such 
allowance. In the new cataract the American Fall would 
still be the higher, and its line across the channel nearly 
straight. The Canadian Fall would undoubtedly present 
a curve, but more gradual and uniform than the present 
horseshoe. 

But there might possibly occur one new feature in the 
chasm-channel of the river as the result of future re- 
cession. That would be the presence in that channel of 
rocky islands, similar to that which has already formed 
just below the American Fall. The points at which 
these islands would be likely to form are those where the 
indurated rock of either the Medina or the Niagara group 
lies near the surface of the water. This probably was the 
case at the narrow bend below the Whirlpool, before 
noticed, and from thence up to the outlet of the pool. 
After considering what must have occurred in the last 
case, we may form some opinion concerning the proba- 
bilities in reference to the first. 

We can hardly resist the conclusion that masses of 
fallen rock must have accumulated below the Whirlpool 



58 NIAGARA. 

as we now see them under the American Fall. But if so, 
where are they ? The answer to this question brings us 
to the consideration of the most remarkable phenomenon 
connected with this wonderful river. To the beholder it 
is matter of astonishment what can have become of the 
great mass of earth, rock, gravel, and bowlders, large and 
small, which once filled the immense chasm that lies below 
him. He learns that the water for a mile below the Falls 
is two hundred feet deep, and flows over a mass of fallen 
rock and stone of great depth lying below it ; he sees a 
chasm of nearly double these dimensions, more than half 
of which was once filled with solid rock ; he beholds the 
large quantities which have already fallen, which are still 
defiant, still breasting the ceaseless hammering of the de- 
scending flood. For centuries past this process has been 
going on, until a chasm seven miles long, a thousand feet 
wide, and, including the secondary banks, more than four 
hundred feet deep, has been excavated, and the material 
which filled it entirely removed. How ? By what ? 
Frost was the agent, ice was his delver, water his car- 
rier, and the basin of Lake Ontario his dumping-ground. 
Although there is little likelihood that islands similar to 
Goat Island have existed in the channel from Lewiston 
upward, still it is probable that, when the Fall receded 
from the rocky cape below the Whirlpool up to the pool, 
it left masses of rock, large and small, lying on the rocky 
floor and projecting above the surface of the water. As 
there were no islands above, there were no broken, tumul- 
tuous rapids. As has been before remarked, the water 
poured over in one broad, deep, resistless flood. When 



GEOLOGY. 59 

frozen by the intense cold of winter, the great cakes of ice 
would descend with crushing force on these rocks. The 
smaller ones would be broken, pulverized, and swept down- 
stream, the channel for the water would be enlarged 
gradually, and the larger masses thus partially undermined. 
Then the spray and dashing water would freeze and the 
ice accumulate upon them until they were toppled over. 
Then the falling ice would recommence its chipping 
labors, and with every piece of ice knocked off, a portion 
of the rock would go with it. Finally, as the cold contin- 
ued, the master force, the mightiest of mechanical powers, 
would be brought into action. The vast quantities of ice 
pouring over the precipice would freeze together, agglom- 
erate, and form an ice-bridge. The roof being formed, the 
succeeding cakes of ice would be drawn under, and, raising 
it, be frozen to it. This process goes on. Every piece 
of rock above and below the surface is embraced in a re- 
lentless icy grip. Millions of tons are frozen fast together. 
The water and ice continue to plunge over the precipice. 
The principle of the hydrostatic press is made effective. 
Then commences a crushing and grinding process which 
is perfectly terrific. Under the resistless pressure brought 
to bear upon it, the huge mass moves half an inch in one 
direction, and an hundred cubic feet of rock are crushed to 
powder. There is a pause. Then again the immense 
structure moves half an inch another way, and once more 
the crumbling atoms attest its awful power. This goes 
on for weeks continuously. Finally the temperature 
changes. The sunlight becomes potent ; the ice ceases 
to form ; the warm rays loosen the grip of the ice-bridge 



6o NIAGARA. 

along the borders of the chasm below. The water be- 
comes more abundant ; the bridge rises, bringing in its 
icy grasp whatever it had attached itself to beneath ; it 
breaks up into masses of different dimensions : each mass 
starts downward with the growing current, breaking down 
or filing off everything with which it comes in contact. 
Fearful sounds come up from the hidden depths, from 
the mills which are slowly pulverizing the massive rock. 
The smaller bits and finer particles, after filling the inter- 
stices between the larger rocks in the bottom of the 
chasm, are borne lakeward. The heavier portions make 
a part of the journey this year ; they will make another 
part next year, and another the next, being constantly 
disintegrated and pulverized. 

This work has been going on for many centuries. 
The result is seen in the vast bar of unknown depth 
which is spread over the bottom of Lake Ontario around 
the mouth of the river. On the inner side of the bar the 
water is from sixty to eighty feet deep, on the bar it is 
twenty-five feet deep, and outside of it in the lake it 
reaches a depth of six hundred feet. 

And finally, to the force we have been considering, 
more than to any other, it is probable that all the coming 
generations of men will be indebted for a grand and per- 
pendicular Fall somewhere between its present location 
and Lake St. Clair ; for it must be remembered that the 
bottom of Lake Erie is only fourteen feet lower than the 
crest of the present Fall, and the bottom of Lake St. Clair 
is sixty-two feet higher. It may also be considered that 
the corniferous limestone of the Onondaga group — which 




Great Icicles under Lhe American Fall. 

opposite page 60. 



GEOLOGY. 6l 

succeeds the Niagara group as we approach Lake Erie — 
is more competent to maintain a perpendicular face than 
is the Hmestone of the latter group. 

We may here appropriately notice a remarkable feat- 
ure in the geognosy of the earth's surface from Lake 
Huron to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We have before 
stated that the elevation of that lake above tide-water is 
five hundred and seventy-eight feet. But its depth, 
according to Dr. Houghton, is one thousand feet. If 
this statement is correct, the bottom of it is four hundred 
and twenty-two feet below the sea-level. The elevation 
of Lake St. Clair is five hundred and seventy feet. But 
its depth is only twenty feet, leaving its bottom five hun- 
dred and fifty feet above the sea-level. The elevation of 
Lake Erie is five hundred and sixty-eight feet. But it is 
only eighty-four feet deep, making it four hundred and 
eighty-four feet above the sea-level. From Lake Erie to 
Lake Ontario there is a descent of three hundred and 
thirty-six feet. But the latter lake is six hundred feet 
deep, and its elevation two hundred and thirty-two feet. 
Hence the bottom of it is three hundred and sixty-eight 
feet below the sea-level. From the outlet of Lake Onta- 
rio the St. Lawrence River flows eight hundred and twenty 
miles to tide-water, falling two hundred and thirty-two 
feet in this distance. The water from the springs at the 
bottom of Lake Huron is compelled to climb a mountain 
nine hundred and eighty feet high before it can start on 
this long oceanward journey. 



PART III. 
LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 



CIIAPTKR IX. 

Forty years since — Niagara in winter — Frozen spray — Ice foliage and 
ice apples — Ice moss — Frozen fog — Ice islands — Ice statues — Sleigh- 
riding on the American rajiids — Boys coasting on Ihcm — Ice gorges. 

II'" the t'lfst white man who saw Niagara coiiki have 
been certain that lie was the first to see it, and had 
simply recorded the fact with whatever note or comment, 
he would have secured for himself that species of immor- 
tality which accrues to such as are connected with those 
first and last events and things in which all men feel a 
certain interest. But he failed to improve his oppor- 
tiinit}', and I'^itlu-r llcnncpiii was the first, so far as 
known, to profit by such neglect, and his somewhat 
crude and exaggerated description of the I'^alls has been 
often quoted and is well known. So long as " waters 
flow and trees grow" it will continue to be read by 
successive generations. The I'^ench missionaries and 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 63 

traders who followed him seem to have been too much 
occupied in saving souls or in seeking for gold to spend 
much time in contemplating the cataract, or to waste 
much sentiment in writing about it. And so it happens 
that, considering its fame, very little has been written, 
or rather published, concerning it. 

Seventy years ago, the few travelers who were drawn 
to the vicinity by interest or curiosity were obliged to 
approach it by Indian trails, or rude corduroy roads, 
through dense and dark forests. Within the solitude 
of their deep shadows, beneath their protecting arms, 
was hidden one of the sublimest works of the phys- 
ical creation. The scene was grand, impressive, almost 
oppressive, not less sublime than the Alps or the 
ocean, but more fascinating, more companionable, than 
either. 

Niagara we can take to our hearts. We realize its 
majesty and its beauty, but we are never obliged to 
challenge its power. Its surroundings and accessories 
are calm and peaceful. Even in all the treacherous 
and bloody warfare of savage Indians it was neutral 
ground. It was a forest city of refuge for contending 
tribes. The generous, noble, and peaceful Niagaras — a 
people, according to M. Charlevoix, " larger, stronger, 
and better formed than any other savages," and who 
lived upon its borders — were called by the whites and 
the neighboring tribes the Neuter Nation. 

The crafty Hurons, the unwarlike Eries, the invin- 
cible league formed by the six aggressive and con- 
quering tribes composing the Iroquois confederacy, — the 



64 NIAGARA. 

Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, 
the Senecas, and the Tuscaroras, — all extinguished the 
torch, buried the tomahawk, and smoked the calumet 
when they came to the shores of the Niagara, and sat 
down within sight of its incense cloud, and listened 
to its perpetual anthem. In succeeding contests between 
the whites, on two occasions only was nature's repose 
here disturbed by the din of battle — first, in the run- 
ning fight at Chippewa, and again at the obstinate and 
bloody struggle of Lundy's Lane. 

During the War of 1812, in which these actions 
occurred, the dense forest which lay outside of the 
old belt of French occupation was first extensively 
and persistently attacked, the sunlight being let in 
upon comfortable log-cabins and fruitful fields. The 
Indian trail and corduroy "shake" were superseded 
by more civilized and comfortable highways. Post 
routes were opened and public conveyances established. 
For many years, however, the two principal ways of 
access to Niagara were by the Ridge road, from 
the Genessee Falls — now Rochester — and the river 
road on the Canadian side from Buffalo to Drum- 
mondville. 

Some forty years ago, and for many years thereafter, 
Niagara was, emphatically, a pleasant and attractive 
watering-place; the town was quiet; the accommo- 
dations were comfortable ; the people were kind, con- 
siderate, and attentive ; guides were civil, intelligent, 
and truthful ; conveyances were good, and were in 
charge of careful and respectable attendants ; com- 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 65 

missions were unknown; "scalping" was left to the In- 
dians ; nobody was annoyed or importuned ; the flowers 
bloomed, the birds caroled, the full-leaved trees furnished 
refreshing shade, and the air was balmy. Then the 
lowing of cows in the street, the guttural note of the 
swine, and the voice of the solicitor were not heard. 
Elderly people came to stay for pleasant recreation and 
quiet enjoyment; younger people to "bill and coo" and 
dance. Now all that is changed. A contemporary 
orator once described the moral status of a famous 
stock-jobbing locality by saying that " ten thousand a 
year is the Sermon on the Mount for Wall street." The 
same gospel is popular at Niagara. 

Whoso has seen Niagara only in summer has but 
half seen it. In winter its beauties are not diminished, 
while the accessories due to the season are numerous and 
varied. After two or three weeks of intensely cold 
weather many beautiful and fantastic scenes are presented 
around the Falls. 

The different varieties of stalactites and stalagmites 
hanging from or apparently supporting the project- 
ing rocks along the side walls of the deep chasm, 
the ice islands which grow on the bars and around the 
rocks in the river, the white caps and hoods which are 
formed on the rocks below, the fanciful statuary and 
statuesque forms which gather on and around the trees 
and bushes, are all curious and interesting. Exceedingly 
beautiful are the white vestments of frozen spray with 
which everything in the immediate vicinity is robed 
and shielded ; and beautiful, too, are the clusters of ice 
5 



66 NIAGARA. 

apples which tip the extremities of the branches of the 
evergreen trees. 

There is something marvelous in the purity and 
whiteness of congealed spray. One might think it to be 
frozen sunlight. And when, by reason of an angle or a 
curve, it is thrown into shadow, one sees where the 
rainbow has been caught and frozen in. After a day of 
sunshine which has been sufficiently warm to fill the 
atmosphere with aqueous vapor, if a sharp, still, cold 
night succeed^ and if on this there break a clear, calm 
morning, the scene presented is one of unique and 
enchanting beauty. 

The frozen spray on every boll, limb, and twig 
of tree a«d shrub, on every stififened blade of grass, 
on every rigid stem and tendril of the vines, is 
covered over with a fine white powder, a frosty bloom, 
from which there springs a line of delicate frost- 
spines, forming a perfect fringe of ice-moss, than which 
nothing more fanciful nor more beautiful can be im- 
agined. 

Then, as the day advances, the increasing warmth 
of the sun's rays dissolves this fairy frost-work and 
spreads it like a delicate varnish over the solid spray, 
giving it a brilliant polish rivaling the luster of the 
rarest gems; the mid-morning breeze sets in motion this 
flashing, dazzling forest, which varies its color as the 
sunlight- angle varies ; and finally, when the waxing 
warmth and growing breeze loosen the hold of the 
icy covering in the tree-tops, and it drops to the still 
solid surface in the shade beneath, — the tiny particles 




Opposite page 66, 



Winter Foliage. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 67 

with a silver tinkle and the larger pieces with the 
sharp, rattling sound of the castanet, — the ear is charmed 
with a wild, dashing rataplan, while a scene of 
strange enchantment challenges the admiration of the 
spectator. 

Even more beautiful and fairy-like, if possible, is the 
garment of frozen fog with which all external objects are 
adorned and etherealized when the spring advances and 
the temperature of the water is raised. As the sharp, 
still night wears on, the light mists begin to rise, and 
when the morning breaks, the river is buried in a deep, 
dense bank of fog. A gentle wave of air bears it 
landward ; its progress is stayed by everything with 
which it comes in contact, and as soon as its motion 
is arrested it freezes sufficiently to adhere to whatever 
it touches. So it grows upon itself, and all things are 
soon covered half an inch in depth with a most deli- 
cate and fragile white fringe of frozen fog. The morn- 
ing sun dispels the mist, and in an hour the gay frost- 
work vanishes. 

The ice islands are sometimes extensive. In the 
year 1856 the whole of the rocky bar above Goat 
Island was covered with ice, piled together in a rough 
heap, the lower end of which rested on Goat Island and 
the three Moss Islands lying outside of it, all of which 
were visited by different persons passing over this new 
route. 

The ice formed on the rocks below the American Fall, 
stretched upward, reached the edge of the precipice just 
north of the Little Horseshoe, continued up-stream above 



68 NIAGARA. 

Chapin's Island, spread out laterally from that to Goat 
Island on the south, and over nearly half of the American 
rapids to the north. At the brow of the precipice it 
accumulated upward until it formed a ridge some forty 
feet high. About fifteen rods up-stream another ridge 
was formed of half the height of the first. Every rock 
projecting upward bore an immense ice-cap. Around 
and between these mounds and caps horses were driven 
to sleighs, albeit the course was not favorable for quick 
time. The boys drew their sleds to the top of the large 
mound, slid down it, up-stream, and nearly to the top of 
the smaller hill. 

On the lower or down-stream side, they would have 
had a clear course to the water below, at the brink of 
the Falls, and might have made "time " compared Avith 
which Dexter's minimum would have seemed only a 
funeral march. But with all Young America's passion 
for speed, he declined to try this route. The writer 
walked over the south end of Luna Island, above the tops 
of the trees. 

The ice-bridge of that year filled the whole chasm 
from the Railway Suspension Bridge up past the American 
Fall. When the ice broke up in the spring, such immense 
quantities were carried down that a strong northerly wind 
across Lake Ontario caused an ice-jam at Fort Niagara. 
The ice accumulated and set back until it reached the 
Whirlpool, and could be crossed at any point between the 
Whirlpool and the Fort. It was lifted up about sixty feet 
above the surface, and spread out over both shores, crush- 
ing and destroying everything with which it came in 




Niagara Falls, from Below, 




Opposite page 69. 



Ice Bridge and Frost P'reaks. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 69 

contact. Many persons from different parts of the country- 
visited the extraordinary scene. 

At Lewiston the writer, with many others, saw a most 
remarkable illustration of the terrific power of this hydro- 
static press. Just below the village, on the American side, 
there stood, about two rods from high-water mark, a sound, 
thrifty, tough white-oak tree, perhaps a hundred years 
old, and two feet in diameter. The ice, moved by the 
water, struck it near the ground and pressed it outward 
and upward, until it was actually pulled up by the roots 
— or rather some of the roots were broken and others 
were pulled out — and landed twenty feet farther away 
from the chasm. 

Those who watched the operation stated that, from 
the time the ice touched the tree until it was landed on 
the bank above, the motion of the ice could not be 
detected by the eye. 

Slowly, steadily, surely it pressed on. Suddenly there 
would be an explosion, sharp and loud, when a root gave 
way. No motion in the ice or tree could be discovered. 
After a lapse of two or three hours another sharp crack 
would give notice of another fracture. Thus the ice 
pressed gradually on, and in ten hours the work was done. 
A thousandth part of this force would pulverize a bowlder 
of adamant. We need not wonder, therefore, that the 
river Niagara keeps its channel clear. 

In the ice-gorge of 1866 the ice was set back to the 

upper end of the Whirlpool, over which it was twenty 

feet deep. The Whirlpool rapid was subdued nearly to 

an unbroken current, which all the way below to Lake 

5a 



•JO NIAGARA. 

Ontario was reduced to a gentle flow of quiet waters. 
Never was there a sublimer contest of the great forces of 
nature. The frost laid its hand upon the raging torrent 
and it was still. 

The winter of 1875 was intensely cold. The singular 
figures represented in the illustrations — the eagle, dog, 
baboon, and others — are exact reproductions of the real 
chance-work of the frost of that season. The long-con- 
tinued prevalence of the south-west wind fastened to 
every object facing it a border or apron of dazzling 
whiteness, and more than five feet thick. The ice mount- 
ain below the American Fall, reaching nearly to the top 
of the precipice, was appropriated as a "coasting" course, 
and furnished most exhilarating sport to the people 
who used it. A large number of visitors came from all 
directions, and, on the 2 2d of February, fifteen hundred 
were assembled to see the extraordinary exhibition. 

In the coldest winters, the ice-bridges cannot be less 
than two hundred and fifty feet thick. The ice-bridge of 
1875 formed on the 6th and 7th of May, was crossed on 
the 8th, and broke up on the 14th — the only one ever 
known in the river so late in the spring. 





Opposite page 70 



Coasting below the American Fall. 



CHAPTER X. 

Judge Porter — General Porter — Goat Island — Origin of its name — Early 
dates found cut in the bark of trees and in the rock — Professor Kalm's 
wonderful story — Bridges to the Island — Method of construction 
— Red Jacket — Anecdotes — Grand Island — Major Noah and the New 
Jerusalem —The Stone Tower — The Biddle Stairs — Sam Patch —Depth 
of water on the Horseshoe — Ships sent over the Falls. 

IN preparing this narrative, the writer has had the good 
fortune to hsten to many recitals of facts and incidents 
by the late Judge Augustus Porter and the late General 
Peter B. Porter, whose names are intimately and honorably 
connected with the more recent history, not only of this 
particular locality but of the Empire State. 

Judge Porter, after having spent several years in survey- 
ing and lotting large portions of the territory of Western 
New York and the Western Reserve in Ohio, came from 
Canandaigua to Niagara Falls with his family in June, 
1806, where he continued to live until his death, nearly 
fifty years afterward. 

General Porter settled as a lawyer at Canandaigua in 
1795, removed to Black Rock in 18 10, and to Niagara 
Falls in 1838. 

In 1805, the two brothers became interested with 
others in the purchase from the State of New York of 



72 NIAGARA. 

four lots in the Mile Strip lying both above and below 
the Falls. 

A few years later, they purchased not only the interest 
of their partners in these lots, but other lands at different 
points along this strip. In 1814, they bought of Samuel 
Sherwood a paper since named a float — an instrument 
given by the State authorizing the bearer to locate two 
hundred acres of any of the unsold or unappropriated 
lands belonging to the State. This float they fortunately 
anchored on Goat Island and the islands adjacent thereto 
lying " immediately above and adjoining the Great 
Falls." 

The origin of the name of Goat Island is as follows : 
Mr. John Stedman, who came into the country in 1760, 
had cleared a portion of the upper end of the island, and 
in the summer of 1779 he placed on it an aged and 
dignified male goat. The following winter was very 
severe, navigation to the island was impracticable, and 
the goat fell a victim to the intense cold. Since which 
the scene of his exile and death has been called Goat 
Island. 

By the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 
1 8 14, the boundary line between Great Britain and the 
United States, on the Niagara frontier, was to run through 
the deepest water along the river-courses and through the 
center of the Great Lakes. As the deepest water, at this 
point, is in the center of the Horseshoe Fall, the islands 
in the river fell to the Americans. General Porter, acting 
as Commissioner for the United States, proposed to call 
the largest one Iris Island, and it was so printed on the 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 73 

boundary maps. But the public adhered to the old name 
of Goat Island. 

One of the early chronicles states that the island con- 
tained two hundred and fifty acres of land. At the pres- 
ent time there are in it less than seventy. A strip some 
ten rods wide by eighty rods long has been worn away 
from the southern side of it since 1818, when Judge 
Porter made the first road around it. 

The earliest date he found on the island was 1765, 
carved on a beech-tree. The earliest date cut in the rock 
on the main-land was 1645. Human bones and arrow- 
heads were found on the island. The Indians went to it 
with their canoes, which they paddled up and down in 
the comparatively quiet water lying on the rocky bar 
which extends upward nearly a mile above the head of 
the island. 

Notwithstanding this fact, the Swedish naturalist, 
Kalm, who visited the place in 1750, relates a fabulous 
story of two Indians who, on a hunting excursion above 
the Falls, drank too freely from " two bottles of French 
brandy" which they brought from Fort Niagara; be- 
coming drowsy, they laid themselves down in the bottom 
of their canoe for a nap. 

The canoe swung off shore and floated down-stream. 
Nearing the rapids, the noise awakened one of them, 
who had apparently been more fortunate in learning 
the English language from the French than most of his 
tribe, for, seeing their perilous situation, he exclaimed : 
"We are gone!" But the two plied their paddles with 
such aboriginal vigor that they succeeded in landing on 



74 NIAGARA. 

Goat Island. From the sequel it would seem that they 
must have destroyed or lost their canoe. Finding no 
houses of refreshment, nor cairns of stores left by former 
explorers, and most naturally getting hungry, they con- 
cluded it would be desirable to get back to the fort — a 
wish more easily expressed than accomplished. 

But it was necessary for them to **do or die." So, as 
the story runs, they stripped the bark from the basswood 
trees, and with it made a ladder long enough to reach 
from a tree standing on the edge of the precipice at the 
foot of the island down to the water below. 

After dropping their ladder they followed it down- 
ward. Reaching the water, and being good swimmers, 
they plunged in with great glee, expecting to be able to 
swim across to the opposite shore, which they could 
easily climb. But the counter current forced them back 
to the island. 

After being a good deal bruised on the rocks, they 
were compelled to abandon the attempt to cross, and then 
returned up their ladder to the island. There, after much 
whooping, they attracted the notice of other Indians on 
the shore. These reported the situation at the fort, and 
the commandant sent up a party of whites and Indians 
to rescue them. They brought with them four light pike- 
poles. Going to a point opposite the head of the island, 
they exchanged salutations with the new Crusoes, and 
began preparations for their rescue. Two Indians volun- 
teered to undertake the task. "They took leave of all 
their friends as if they were going to their death." Each 
Indian rescuer, according to the wondrous fable, took two 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 75 

pike-poles and zvaded across the channel to the island, 
gave each of the Crusoes a pike-pole, and then the four 
waded back to the main-land, where they were joyfully 
received by their anxious, waiting friends, after having 
been " nine days on the island." 

Remembering that the water in mid-channel is twelve 
feet deep, with a twelve-mile current, we must concede 
this to be the most marvelous of all aquatic achieve- 
ments. 

In 1 8 17 Judge Porter built the first bridge to Goat 
Island, about forty rods above the present bridge. In 
the following spring the large cakes of ice from the river 
above, not being sufficiently broken up by the short 
stretch of rapids over which they passed, struck the 
bridge with terrific force, and carried away the greater 
part of it. With the courage and enterprise of a New- 
Englander, the next season he constructed another bridge 
farther down, on the present site, rightly judging that the 
ice would be so much broken up before reaching it as to 
be harmless. 

That bridge, with constant repairs and one almost 
entire renewal, stood firm in its place until the year 1856, 
when it was removed to make room for the present iron 
bridge. The old piers were much enlarged and strength- 
ened, and also raised about three feet higher to receive 
the new bridge. As nearly every stranger inquires how 
the first bridge was carried over the turbulent waters, a 
brief description of the process may be acceptable. First, 
a strong bulkhead was built in the shallow water next to 
the shore ; a solid backing was put in behind this, and 



-J^ NIAGARA. 

the upper surface properly graded and well floored with 
plank. Strong rollers were placed parallel with the stream 
and fastened to the floor. In the old forest then standing 
near by were many noble oaks, of different sizes and 
great length. A number of these were felled and hewed 
"tapering," as it was termed, so that, when finished, they 
were about eighteen inches square at the butt, fifteen at 
the top, and eighty feet long. Through the small ends 
were bored large auger-holes. These sticks were placed, 
as required, on the rollers, at right angles to the stream, 
the small ends over the water, and the shore ends heavily 
weighted down. 

The first stick being properly placed, levers were 
applied to the rollers and the stick was run out until the 
small end reached an eddy in the water. Then another 
similar stick was run out in like manner, parallel to the first, 
and about six feet from it. A few light, strong planks 
were placed across and made fast. Two men were pro- 
vided each with strong, iron-pointed pike-staffs, each staff" 
having in its upper end a hole, through which was drawn 
some ten feet of new rope. Thus provided, they walked 
out on the timbers, drove their iron pikes down among 
the stones, and tied them fast to the timbers. Thus the 
whole problem was solved. Around these pike-staffs the 
first pier was built and filled with stone. Then other 
timbers were run out, all were planked over, and the first 
span was completed. The other spans were laid in the 
same way. 

The great Indian chief and orator, Red Jacket, occa- 
sionally visited Judge and General Porter — the latter 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. yj 

then living at Black Rock. Judge Porter told this 
anecdote of the chief: He visited the Falls while the 
mechanics were stretching the timbers across the rapids 
for the second bridge. He sat for a long time on a pile 
of plank, watching their operations. His mind seemed 
to be busy both with the past and the present, reflecting 
upon the vast territory his race once possessed, and 
intensely conscious of the fact that it was theirs no 
longer. Apparently mortified, and vexed that its pale- 
face owners should so successfully develop and improve 
it, he rose from his seat, and, uttering the well-known 

Indian guttural "Ugh, ugh!" he exclaimed: "D n 

Yankee! d n Yankee!" Then, gathering his blanket- 
cloak around him, with his usual dignity and downcast 
eyes, he slowly walked away, and never returned to the 
spot. 

Before parting with the distinguished chief, we will 
repeat after General Porter two other anecdotes charac- 
teristic of him. He lived not far from Buffalo, on the 
Seneca Reservation, and frequently visited the late Gen- 
eral Wadsworth, at Geneseo. Indeed, his visits grew to 
be somewhat perplexing, for the great chief must be 
entertained personally by the host of the establish- 
ment. 

Of course he was a "teetotaler" — only in one way. 
When he got a glass of good liquor he drank the whole 
of it. He was very fond of the rich apple-juice of the 
Geneseo orchards. Having repeated his visits to General 
Wadsworth, at one time, with rather inconvenient fre- 
quency, and coming one day when the General saw that he 



78 NIAGARA. 

had been drinking pretty freely somewhere else, his host 
concluded he would not offer him the usual refreshments. 
In due time, therefore, Red Jacket rose and excused him- 
self As he was leaving the room the orator said, " General, 
hear!" "Well, what, Red Jacket?" To which he replied 
with great gravity : " General, when I get home to my 
people, and they ask me how your cider tasted, what 
shall I tell them ? " Of course he got the cider. 

His determined and constant opposition to the sale of 
the lands belonging to the Indians is well known. At 
the council held at Buffalo Creek, in i8ii,he was se- 
lected by the Indians to answer the proposition of a New 
York land company to buy more land. The Indians 
refused to sell, although, as usual, the company only 
wanted "a small tract." To illustrate the system, after 
the speech-making was over, Red Jacket placed half a 
dozen Indians on a log, which lay near by. They did 
not sit very close together, but had plenty of room. He 
then took a white man who wanted "a small tract," and 
making the Indians at one end " move up," he put the 
white man beside them. Then he brought another "small- 
tract" white man, and making the aborigines "move 
up " once more, the Indian on the end was obliged to rise 
from the log. He repeated this process until but one 
of the original occupants was left on the log. Then sud- 
denly he shoved him off, put a white man in his place, 
and turning to the land agent said : " See what one 
small tract means; white man all, Indian nothing." 

Colonel William L. Stone, in his " Life of Red Jacket," 
relates the following: In i8i6, after Red Jacket took up 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 79 

his residence on Buffalo Creek, east of the city, a young 
French gount traveling through the country made a brief 
stay at Buffalo, whence he sent a request to the sachem 
to visit him at his hotel. 

Red Jacket, in reply, informed the young nobleman 
that if he wished to see the old chief he would give him 
a welcome greeting at his cabin. The count sent again 
to say that he was much fatigued by his journey of four 
thousand miles, which he had made for the purpose of 
seeing the celebrated Indian orator. Red Jacket, and 
thought it strange that he should not be willing to come 
four miles to meet him. But the proud and shrewd old 
chief replied that he thought it still more strange, after 
the count had traveled so great a distance for that pur- 
pose, that he should halt only a few miles from the 
home of the man he had come so far to see. The 
count finally visited the sachem at his house, and 
was much pleased with the dignity and wisdom of 
his savage host. The point of etiquette having been 
satisfactorily settled, the chief accepted an invitation to 
dinner, and was no doubt able to tell his people how the 
count's " cider " tasted. 

In 1 8 19, when the boundary commissioners ran the 
line through the Niagara River, Grand Island fell to the 
United States, under the rule that that line should be in 
the center of the main channel. To ascertain this, accu- 
rate measurements were made, by which it was found that 
1 2,802,750 cubic feet of water passed through the Canadian 
channel, and 8,540,080 through the American channel. 
To test the accuracy of these measurements, the quantity 



8o NIAGARA. 

• 

passing in the narrow channel at Black Rock was deter- 
mined by the same method, and was found to be 
21,549,590 cubic feet, thus substantially corroborating the 
first two measurements. 

The Indian name of Grand Island is Owanunga. In 
1825, Mr. M. M. Noah, a politician of the last generation, 
took some preliminary steps for reestablishing the lost 
nationality of the Jews upon this island, where a New 
Jerusalem was to be founded. Assuming the title of 
" Judge of Israel," he appeared at Buffalo in September 
for the purpose of founding the new nation and city. A 
meeting was held in old St. Paul's Church, at which, 
with the aid of a militia company, martial music, and 
masonic rites, the remarkable initiatory proceedings took 
place. 

The self-constituted judge presented himself arrayed 
in gorgeous robes of office, consisting of a rich black cloth 
tunic, covered by a capacious mantle of crimson silk trim- 
med with ermine, and having a richly embossed golden 
medal hanging from his neck. After what, in the account 
published in his own paper of the day's proceedings, he 
called " impressive and unique ceremonies," he read a 
proclamation to "all the Jews throughout the world," in- 
forming them "that an Asylum was prepared and offered 
to them," and that he did " revive, renew, and establish 
(in the Lord's name), the government of the Jewish 
nation, * * * confirming and perpetuating all our 
rights and privileges, our rank and power, among the 
nations of the earth as they existed and were recognized 
under the government of the Judges." He also ordered 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 8 1 

a census to be taken of all the Hebrews in the world, and 
levied a capitation tax of three shekels — about one dol- 
lar and sixty cents — " to pay the expenses of re-organiz- 
ing the government and assisting emigrants." He had 
prepared a " foundation stone," which was afterward 
erected on the site of the new city, and which bore the 
following inscription: 

" Hear, O Israel, the Lord 
is our God — the Lord is one." 

"ARARAT, 

A CITY OF REFUGE FOR THE JEWS, 

FOUNDED BY MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH, 

IN THE MONTH OF TISRI 5586 — SEPT. 1 825, 

IN THE FIFTIETH YEAR OF 

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE." 

After the meeting at St. Paul's, the " Judge " re- 
turned at once to New York, and, like the great early 
ruler of his nation, he only saw the land of promise, as 
he never crossed to the island. 

The strong round tower, called the Terrapin Tower, 
which stood near Goat Island, not far from the precipice, 
was built in 1833, of stones gathered in the vicinity. It 
was forty-five feet high, and twelve feet in diameter at 
the base. So much was said in 1873 about the growing 
insecurity of the tower that it was taken down. 

The Biddle Staircase was named for Mr. Nicholas 
Biddle, of Philadelphia, who contributed a sum of money 
6 



82 NIAGARA. 

toward its construction. It was erected in 1829. The 
shaft is eighty feet high and firmly fastened to the rock. 
The stairs are spiral, winding round it from top to bot- 
tom. Near the foot of these stairs, at the water's edge, 
Samuel Patch, who wished to demonstrate to the world 
that " some things could be done as well as others," set up 
a ladder one hundred feet high, from which he made two 
leaps into the water below. Going thence to Rochester, 
he took another leap near the Genesee Falls, which 
proved to be his last. 

The depth of water on the Horseshoe Fall is a subject 
of speculation with every visitor. It was correctly deter- 
mined in 1827. In the autumn of that year, the ship MicJii- 
gaii, having been condemned as unseaworthy, was pur- 
chased by a few persons, and sent over the Falls. Her hull 
was eighteen feet deep. It filled going down the rapids, 
and went over the Horseshoe Fall with some water above 
the deck, indicating that there must have been at least 
twenty feet of water above the rock. This voyage of the 
Michigan was an event of the day. A glowing hand-bill, 
charged with bold type and sensational tropes, announced 
that " The Pirate Michigan, with a cargo of furious ani- 
mals," would "pass the great rapids and the Falls of 
Niagara," on the "eighth of September, 1827." She 
would sail " through the white-tossing and deep-rolling 
rapids of Niagara, and down its grand precipice into the 
basin below." Entertainment was promised "lor all who 
may visit the Falls on the present occasion, which will, 
for its novelty and the remarkable spectacle it will present, 
be unequaled in the annals of infernal navigation." Con- 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 83 

sidering that the Falls could be reached only by road 
conveyances, the gathering of people was very large. 
The voyage was successfully made, and the "cargo of live 
animals" duly deposited in the "basin below," except a 
bear which left the ship near the center of the rapids and 
swam ashore, but was recaptured. 

Two enterprising individuals made arrangements to 
supply the people assembled on the island with refresh- 
ments. They had an ample spread of tables and an 
abundant supply of provisions. As there was much de- 
lay in getting the vessel down the river, the people got 
impatient and hungry. They took their places at the 
tables. When their appetites were nearly satisfied, notice 
was given that the ship was coming, whereupon they 
departed hurriedly, forgetting to leave the equivalent 
half-dollar for the benefit of the purveyors. 

In after years, one of the proprietors of this unex- 
pected "free lunch" — the late General Whitney — estab- 
lished here one of the best hotels in the country, and left 
his heirs an ample fortune. 

A few geese in the cargo were only badly confused 
by their unusual plunge, and were afterward picked 
up from boats. It was noticed as being a little singu- 
lar that geese which went over the Falls in the Pirate 
Michigan were for sale at extravagant prices all the 
next season. 

Ano^er condemned vessel of about five hundred tons 
burden, the Detroit, which had belonged to Commodore 
Perry's victorious fleet, was sent down the rapids in 1841. 
A large concourse of people assembled from all parts of 



84 NIAGARA. 

the country to witness the spectacle. Her rolling and 
plunging in the rapids were fearful, until about midway 
of them she stuck fast on a bar, where she lay until 
knocked to pieces by the ice. From Baron La Hontan 
we know that the Indians went on the water, just below 
the Falls, in their canoes, to gather the game which had 
been swept over them. For more than a hundred years 
there has been a ferry of skiff and yawl boats at this 
point, and in all that time not one serious accident has 
happened. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Joel R. Robinson, the first and last navigator of the Rapids — Rescue of 
Chapin — Rescue of Allen — He takes the Maid of the Mist through the 
Whirlpool — His companions — Eftect upon Robinson — Biographical 
notice — His grave unmarked. 

THE history of the navigation of the Rapids of Niagara 
may be appropriately concluded in this chapter, 
which is devoted to a notice of the remarkable man who 
began it, who had no rival and has left no successor in it 
— Joel R. Robinson. 

In the summer of 1838, while some extensive repairs 
were being made on the main bridge to Goat Island, a 
mechanic named Chapin fell from the lower side of it into 
the rapids, about ten rods from the Bath Island shore. 
The swift current bore him toward the first small island 
lying below the bridge. Knowing how to swim, he made 
a desperate and successful effort to reach it. It is hardly 
more than thirty feet square, and is covered with cedars 
and hemlocks. Saved from drowning, he seemed likely 
to fall a victim to starvation. All thoughts were then 
turned to Robinson, and not in vain. He launched his 
light red skiff from the foot of Bath Island, picked his 
way cautiously and skillfully through the rapids to the 
little island, took Chapin in and brought him safely to 
6a 



86 NIAGARA. 

the shore, much to the rehef of the spectators, who gave 
expression to their appreciation of Robinson's service by 
a moderate contribution. 

In the summer of 1841, a Mr. Allen started for Chip- 
pewa in a boat just before sunset. Being anxious to get 
across before dark, he plied his oars with such vigor that 
one of them broke when he was about opposite the middle 
Sister. With the remaining oar he tried to make the 
head of Goat Island. The current, however, set too 
strongly toward the great Canadian Rapids, and his only 
hope was to reach the outer Sister. Nearing this, and 
not being able to run his boat upon it, he sprang out, 
and, being a good swimmer, by a vigorous effort suc- 
ceeded in getting ashore. Certain of having a lonely if 
not an unpleasant night, and being the fortunate pos- 
sessor of two stray matches, he lighted a fire and solaced 
himself with his thoughts and his pipe. Next morning, 
taking off his red flannel shirt, he raised a signal of dis- 
tress. Toward noon the unusual smoke and the red flag 
attracted attention. The situation was soon ascertained, 
and Robinson informed of it. Not long after noon, 
the little red skiff was carried across Goat Island and 
launched in the channel just below the Moss Islands. 
Robinson then pulled himself across to the foot of the 
middle Sister, and tried in vain to find a point where he 
could cross to the outer one. Approaching darkness 
compelled him to suspend operations. He rowed back to 
Goat Island, got some refreshments, returned to the 
middle Sister, threw the food across to Allen, and then 
left him to his second night of solitude. The next day 




Opposite page 86. Jocl R. RobillSOll. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 87 

Robinson took with him two long, light, strong cords, 
with a properly shaped piece of lead weighing about a 
pound. Tying the lead to one of the cords he threw it 
across to Allen. Robinson fastened the other end of 
Allen's cord to the bow of the skiff; then attaching his 
own cord to the skiff also, he shoved it off. Allen drew 
it to himself, got into it, pushed ofif, and Robinson drew 
him to where he stood on the middle island. Then seat- 
ing Allen in the stern of the skiff he returned across the 
rapids to Goat Island, where both were assisted up the 
bank by the spectators, and the little craft, too, which 
seemed to be almost as much an object of curiosity with 
the crowd as Robinson himself 

This was the second person rescued by Robinson 
from islands which had been considered wholly inacces- 
sible. It is no exaggeration to say that there was not 
another man in the country who could have saved 
Chapin and Allen as he did. 

In the summer of 1855 a canal-boat, with two men 
and a dog in it, was discovered in the strong current near 
Grass Island. The men, finding they could not save the 
large boat, took to their small one and got ashore, 
leaving the dog to his fate. The abandoned craft floated 
down and lodged on the rocks on the south side of Goat 
Island, and about twenty rods above the ledge over which 
the rapids make the first perpendicular break. There 
were left in the boat a watch, a gun, and some articles of 
clothing. The owner offered Robinson a liberal salvage 
if he w^ould recover the property. Taking one of his 
sons with him, he started the little red skiff from the 



88 NIAGARA. 

head of the hydrauHc canal, half a mile above the island, 
shot across the American channel, and ran directly to the 
boat. Holding the skiff to it himself, the young man got 
on board and secured the valuables. The dog had es- 
caped during the night. Leaving the canal-boat, Robinson 
ran down the ledge between the second and third Moss 
Islands, and thence to Goat Island. On going over the 
ledge he had occasion to exercise that quickness of 
apprehension and presence of mind for which he was so 
noted. The water was rather lower than he had calcu- 
lated, and on reaching the top of the ledge the bottom 
of the skiff near the bow struck the rock. Instantly he 
sprang to the stern, freed the skiff, and made the descent 
safely. If the stern had swung athwart the current, the 
skiff would certainly have been wrecked. 

In the year 1846, a small steamer was built in the 
eddy just above the Railway Suspension Bridge, to run up 
to the Falls. She was very appropriately named The 
Maid of the Mist. Her engine was rather weak, but she 
safely accomplished the trip. As, however, she took 
passengers aboard only from the Canadian side, she could 
pay little more than expenses. In 1854 a larger, better 
boat, with a more powerful engine, the new Maid of the 
Mist, was put on the route, and as she took passengers 
from both sides of the river, many thousands of per- 
sons made the exciting and impressive voyage up to the 
Falls. The admiration which the visitor felt as he passed 
quietly along near the American Fall was changed into 
awe when he began to feel the mighty pulse of the great 
deep just below the tower, then swung round into the 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 89 

white foam directly in front of the Horseshoe, and saw 
the sky of waters falling toward him. And he seemed to 
be lifted on wings as he sailed swiftly down on the rushing 
stream through a baptism of spray. To many persons 
there was a fascination about it that induced them to 
make the trip every time they had an opportunity to do 
so. Owing to some change in her appointments, which 
confined her to the Canadian shore for the reception of 
passengers, she became unprofitable. Her owner, having 
decided to leave the neighborhood, wished to sell her as 
she lay at her dock. This he could not do, but he 
received an offer of something more than half of her 
cost, if he would deliver her at Niagara, opposite the 
fort. This he decided to do, after consultation with 
Robinson, who had acted as her captain and pilot on 
her trips below the Falls. The boat required for her 
navigation an engineer, who also acted as fireman, and a 
pilot. 

Mr. Robinson agreed to act as pilot for the fearful 
voyage, and the engineer, Mr. Jones, consented to go 
with him. A courageous machinist, Mr. Mclntyre, 
volunteered to share the risk with them. They put her 
in complete trim, removing from deck and hold all 
superfluous articles. Notice was given of the time for 
starting, and a large number of people assembled to see 
the fearful plunge, no one expecting to see the crew 
again alive after they should leave the dock. This 
dock, as has been before stated, was just above the 
Railway Suspension Bridge, at the place where she was 
built, and where she was laid up in the winter — that, 



90 NIAGARA. 

too, being the only place where she could He without 
danger of being crushed by the ice. Twenty rods below 
this eddy the water plunges sharply down into the head 
of the crooked, tumultuous rapid which we have before 
noticed as reaching from the bridge to the Whirlpool. 
At the Whirlpool, the danger of being drawn under was 
most to be apprehended ; in the rapids, of being turned 
over or knocked to pieces. From the Whirlpool to 
Lewiston is one wild, turbulent rush and whirl of water, 
without a square foot of smooth surface in the whole 
distance. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon of June 15, 
1 86 1, the engineer took his place in the hold, and, 
knowing that their flitting would be short at the best, 
and might be only the preface to swift destruction, set 
his steam- valve at the proper gauge, and awaited — not 
without anxiety — the tinkling signal that should start 
them on their flying voyage. Mclntyre joined Robinson 
at the wheel on the upper deck. Self-possessed, and 
with the calmness which results from undoubting courage 
and confidence, yet with the humility which recognizes 
all possibilities, with downcast eyes and firm hands, 
Robinson took his place at the wheel and pulled the 
starting bell. With a shriek from her whistle and a white 
puft" from her escape-pipe, to take leave, as it were, of 
the multitude gathered on the shores and on the bridge, 
the boat ran up the eddy a short distance, then swung 
round to the right, cleared the smooth water, and shot 
like an arrow into the rapid under the bridge. Robin- 
son intended to take the inside curve of the rapid, but a 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 9I 

fierce cross-current carried him to the outer curve, and 
when a third of the way down it a jet of water struck 
against her uudder, a column dashed up under her star- 
board side, heeled her over, carried away her smoke- 
stack, started her overhang on that side, threw Robinson 
flat on his back, and thrust Mclntyre against her star- 
board wheel-house with such force as to break it through. 
Every eye was fixed, every tongue was silent, and every 
loooker-on breathed freer as she emerged from the fearful 
baptism, shook her wounded sides, slid into the Whirlpool, 
and for a moment rode again on an even keel. Robinson 
rose at once, seized the helm, set her to the right of the 
large pot in the pool, then turned her directly through 
the neck of it. Thence, after receiving another drenching 
from its combing waves, she dashed on without further 
accident to the quiet bosom of the river below Lewiston. 

Thus was accomplished one of the most remarkable 
and perilous voyages ever made by men. The boat was 
seventy-two feet long, with seventeen feet breadth of 
beam and eight feet depth of hold, and carried an en- 
gine of one hundred horse-power. In conversation with 
Robinson after the voyage, he stated that the greater 
part of it was like what he had always imagined must 
be the swift sailing of a large bird in a downward flight ; 
that when the accident occurred the boat seemed to be 
struck from all directions at once ; that she trembled like 
a fiddle-string, and felt as if she would crumble away and 
drop into atoms ; that both he and Mclntyre were hold- 
ing to the wheel with all their strength, but produced no 
more effect than they would if they had been two flies; 



92 NIAGARA. 

that he had no fear of striking the rocks, for he knew that 
the strongest suction must be in the deepest channel, and 
that the boat must remain in that. Finding that Mclntyre 
was somewhat bewildered by excitement or by his fall, as 
he rolled up by his side but did not rise, he quietly put his 
foot on his breast, to keep him from rolling around the 
deck, and thus finished the voyage. 

Poor Jones, imprisoned beneath the hatches before 
the glowing furnace, went down on his knees, as he re- 
lated afterward, and although a more earnest prayer was 
never uttered and few that were shorter, still it seemed to 
him prodigiously long. To that prayer he thought they 
owed their salvation. 

The effect of this trip upon Robinson was decidedly 
marked. As he lived only a few years afterward, his 
death was commonly attributed to it. But this was in- 
correct, since the disease which terminated his life was 
contracted at New Orleans at a later day. " He was," 
said Mrs. Robinson to the writer, "twenty years older 
when he came home that day than when he went out." 
He sank into his chair like a person overcome with weari- 
ness. He decided to abandon the water, and advised his 
sons to venture no more about the rapids. Both his man- 
ner and appearance were changed. Calm and deliberate 
before, he became thoughtful and serious afterward. He 
had been borne, as it were, in the arms of a power so 
mighty that its impress was stamped on his features and 
on his mind. Through a slightly opened door he had 
seen a vision which awed and subdued him. He became 
reverent in a moment. He grew venerable in an hour. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 93 

Yet he had a strange, almost irrepressible, desire to 
make this voyage immediately after the steamer was put 
on below the Falls. The wish was only increased when 
the first Maid of the Mist was superseded by the new 
and stancher one. He insisted that the voyage could 
be made with safety, and that it might be made a good 
pecuniary speculation. 

He was a character — an original. Born on the banks 
of the Connecticut, in the town of Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, it was in the beautiful reach of water which skirts 
that city that he acquired his love of aquatic sports and 
exercises and his skill in them. He was nearly six feet in 
stature, with light chesnut hair, blue eyes, and fair com- 
plexion. He was a kind-hearted man, of equable temper, 
few words, cool, deliberate, decided ; lithe as a Gaul and 
gentle as a girl. It goes without saying that he was a 
man of " undaunted courage." He had that calm, serene, 
supreme equanimity of temperament which fear could not 
reach nor disturb. He might have been, under right 
conditions, a quiet, willing martyr, and at last he bore 
patiently the wearying hours of slow decay which ended 
his life. His love of nature and adventure was paramount 
to his love of money, and although he was never pinched 
with poverty, he never had abundance. 

He loved the water, and was at home in it or on it, as 
he was a capital swimmer and a skillful oarsman. Espe- 
cially he delighted in the rapids of the Niagara. Kind and 
compassionate as he was by nature, he was almost glad 
when he heard that a fellow-creature was, in some way, 
entangled in the rapids, since it would give him an ex- 



94 NIAGARA. 

cuse, an opportunity, to work in them and to help him. 
As he was not a boaster, he made no superfluous exhi- 
bitions of his skill or courage, albeit he might occasionally 
indulge — and be indulged — in some mirthful manifesta- 
tion of his good-nature ; as when, on reaching Chapin's 
refuge for his rescue, he waved from one of its tallest 
cedars a green branch to the anxious spectators, as if to 
assure and encourage them ; and when he returned with 
his skiff half filled with cedar-sprigs, which he distributed 
to the multitude, they raised his pet craft to their shoul- 
ders, with both Chapin and himself in it, and bore them 
in triumph through the village, while money tokens were 
thrown into the boat to replace the green ones. 

He never foolishly challenged the admiration of his 
fellow-men. But when the emergency arose for the 
proper exercise of his powers, when news came that 
some one was in trouble in the river, then he went to 
work with a calm and cheerful will which gave assurance 
of the best results. Beneath his quiet deliberation of 
manner there was concealed a wonderful vigor both of 
resolution and nerve, as was amply shown by the dangers 
which he faced, and by the bend in his withy oar as he 
forced it through the water, and the feathery spray which 
flashed from its blade when he lifted it to the surface. 

In all fishing and sailing parties his presence was in- 
dispensable for those who knew him. The most timid 
child or woman no longer hesitated if Robinson was to go 
with the party. His quick eye saw everything, and his 
willing hand did all that it was necessary to do, to secure 
the comfort and safety of the company. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 95 

It is doubtful whether more than a very few of his 
neighbors know where he Hes, in an unmarked grave 
in Oakwood Cemetery, near the rapids. Robinson went 
forth on a turbulent, unreturning flood, where the slightest 
hesitancy in thought or act would have proved instantly 
fatal. Benevolent associations in different cities and coun- 
tries bestow honor and rewards on those who, by unselfish 
effort and a noble courage, save the life of a fellow-being. 
This Robinson did repeatedly, yet no monument com- 
memorates his worthy deeds. 



CHAPTER XII. 



A fisherman and a bear in a canoe — Frightful experience with floating ice — 
Early farming on the Niagara — Fruit growing — The original forest 
— Testimony of the trees — The first hotel — General Whitney — 
Cataract House — Distinguished visitors — Carriage road down the 
Canadian bank — Ontario House — Clifton House — The Museum — 
Table and Termination Rocks — Burning Spring — Lundy's Lane — 
Battle Anecdotes. 



SOON after the War of 1812, a fisherman — whose 
name we will call Fisher — on a certain day went 
out upon the river, about three miles above the Fall ; 
and while anchored and fishing from his canoe, he saw a 
bear in the water making, very leisurely, for Navy Island. 
Not understanding thoroughly the nature and habits of 
the animal, thinking he would be a capital prize, and 
having a spear in the canoe, he hoisted anchor and 
started in pursuit. As the canoe drew near, the bear 
turned to pay his respects to its occupant. Fisher, with 
his spear, made a desperate thrust at him. Quicker 
and more deftly than the most expert fencer could have 
done it, the quadruped parried the blow, and, disarming his 
assailant, knocked the spear more than ten feet from the 
canoe. Fisher then seized a paddle and belabored the 
bear over his head and on his paws, as he placed the 
latter on the side of the canoe and drew himself in. The 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 97 

now frightened fisherman, not knowing how to swim, was 
in a most uncomfortable predicament. He felt greatly 
relieved, therefore, when the animal deliberately sat him- 
self down, facing him, in the bow of the canoe. Resolving 
in his own mind that he would generously resign the 
whole canoe to the creature as soon as he should reach 
tlie land, he raised his paddle and began to pull vigor- 
ously shoreward, especially as the rapids lay just 
below him, and the Falls were roaring most omi- 
nously. 

Much to his surprise, as soon as he began to paddle 
Bruin began to growl, and, as he repeated his stroke, the 
occupant of the bow raised his note of disapproval an 
octave higher, and at the same time made a motion as 
if he would attack him. Fisher had no desire to culti- 
vate a closer intimacy, and so stopped paddling. 

Bruin serenely contemplated the landscape in the direc- 
tion of the island. Fisher was also intensely interested in 
the same scene, and still more intensely impressed with 
their gradual approach to the rapids. He tried the pad- 
dle again. But the tyrant of the quarter-deck again 
emphatically objected, and as he was master of the 
situation, and fully resolved not to resign the command 
of the craft until the termination of the voyage, there was 
no alternative but submission. Still, the rapids were 
frightfully near and something must be done. He gave a 
tremendous shout. But Bruin was not in a musical mood, 
and vetoed that with as much emphasis as he had done 
the paddling. Then he turned his eyes on Fisher quite 
interestedly, as if he were calculating the best method of 
7 . 



98 NIAGARA. 

dissecting him. The situation was fast becoming some- 
thing more than painful. Man and bear in opposite ends 
of the canoe floating — not exactly double — but together 
to inevitable destruction. But every suspense has an end. 
The single shout, or something else, had called the atten- 
tion of the neighbors to the canoe. They came to the 
rescue, and an old settler, with a musket which he had 
used in the War of 1812, fired a charge of buck-shot into 
Bruin which induced him to take to the water, after 
which he was soon taken, captive and dead, to the 
shore. He weighed over three hundred pounds. 

A son of the settler who shot the bear had a frightful 
experience in the river many years afterward. He was 
engaged in Canada in the business of buying saw-logs 
for the American market. Coming from the woods down 
to Chippewa one cold day in December, at a time when 
considerable quantities of strong, thin cakes of ice were 
floating in the river, he took a flat-bottom skifl" to row 
across to his home. This he did without apprehension, 
as he had been born and brought up on the banks of 
the Niagara, understood it well, and was also a strong, 
resolute man. 

As he drew near the foot of Navy Island, intending 
to take the chute between it and Buckhorn Island, 
two large cakes between which he was sailing suddenly 
closed together and cut the bottom of his skiff square 
off. Just above the cake on which his bottomless skiff 
was then floating there was a second large cake, 
at a little distance from it, and beyond this a strip 
of water which washed the shore of Navy Island. In 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 99 

less time than it has taken to write this, he sprang 
upon the first piece of ice, ran across it with desperate 
speed, cleared the first space of water at a single leap, 
ran across the next cake of ice, jumped with all his 
might, and landed in the icy water within a rod of the 
shore, to which he swam. He was soon after warming 
and drying himself before the rousing fire of the only 
occupant of the island. 

His father had a fine farm on the bank of the river, 
which he cultivated with much care. But before the 
drainage of the country was completed the land was 
decidedly wet. A friend from the East who made him a 
call fotmd him plowing. The water stood in the bottom 
of the furrows. But agriculture has been progressive since 
those days. It is now almost a fine art instead of a mere 
pursuit. And nowhere north of the equator is there a 
climate and soil so genial and favorable for the growth 
of certain kinds of fruit, especially the apple and the 
peach, as are those of Niagara County. Many persons 
claim that they can tell from the peculiar consistency of 
the pulp, and by its flavor and bouquet, on which side of 
the Genesee River an apple is grown. 

It is said that the winter apples of Niagara are as well 
known and as greatly prized above all others of their kind 
on the docks of Liverpool, as is Sea Island cotton above 
all other grades of that plant. The delicious little 
russet known as the Poininc Gris, with its fine aromatic 
flavor when ripe, grows nowhere else to such perfection 
as along the Niagara River. In 1825, at the grand 
celebration held to commemorate the completion of the 



lOO NIAGARA. 

Erie Canal, the late Judge Porter made the first ship- 
ment east of apples raised in Niagara County. It con- 
sisted of two barrels, one of which was sent to the 
corporation of the city of Troy, and the other to that 
of New York. They were duly received and honored. 
From this small beginning the fruit trade has grown 
to the yearly value of more than a million of dollars for 
Niagara County alone. 

With reference to the forest which once covered this 
country, an erroneous impression prevails as to its 
age. Poets and romancers have been in the habit of 
speaking of these "primeval forests" as though they 
might have been bushes when Nahor and Abraham were 
infants. But this is a great error. Since the discovery 
of the country only one tree has been found that was 
eight hundred years old. This is mentioned by Sir 
Charles Lyell as having grown out of one of the ancient 
mounds near Marietta, Ohio. But the great majority of 
them were not over three hundred years old. The testi- 
mony of the trees concerning the past is not quite so 
abundant as that of the rocks, but that of one tree grown 
in central New York is of a remarkable character. It was a 
white oak, which grew in the rich valley of the Clyde River, 
about one mile west of Lyons' Court House, and was cut 
down in the year 1837. The body made a stick of tim- 
ber eighty feet long, which before sawing was about five 
feet in diameter. It was cut into short logs and sawed 
up. From the center of the butt-log was sawed a piece 
about eight by twelve inches. At the butt end of this 
piece the saw laid bare, without marring them, some old 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. lOI 

scars made by an ax or some other sharp instrument. 
These scars were perfectly distinct and their character 
equally unmistakable. They were made, apparently, 
when the young tree was about six inches in diameter. 
Outside of these scars there were counted four hundred 
and sixty distinct rings, each ring marking with unerring 
certainty one year's growth of the tree. It follows that 
this chopping was done in 1374, or one hundred and 
eighteen years before the first voyage of Columbus across 
the Atlantic. 

It has been questioned whether the rings shown in a 
cross-section of a tree can be relied upon to determine 
truly the number of years it has been growing. A singular 
confirmation of the correctness of this method of counting 
was furnished some years since. 

In the latter part of the last century the late Judge 
Porter surveyed a large tract of land lying east of the 
Genesee River, known as "The Gore." Some thirty-five 
years afterward it became necessary to resurvey one of 
its lines, and recourse was had to the original surveys. 
Most of the forest through which the first line had been 
run was cleared off, and such trees as had been " blazed " 
as line-trees had overgrown the scars. One tree was 
found which was declared to be an original line-tree. On 
cutting into it carefully the old " blaze " was brought to 
light, and on counting the rings outside of it, they were 
found to correspond with the number of years which had 
elapsed since the first survey. 

One of the three small buildings at Niagara which 
escaped the flames of 18 14 was a log-cabin, about thirty 
7a 



102 NIAGARA. 

by forty feet in its dimensions, that stood in the center of 
the front of the International block. In the latter part of 
1815 the inhabitants returned, and the late General P. 
Whitney put a board addition to the log-house, and 
opened the first hotel. From that has grown up the 
present International. The immediate predecessor of the 
International was the Eagle Tavern, which was, for some 
years, in charge of a genial and popular landlord, the 
late Mr. Hollis White. It was formed by the addition 
to the old frame structure of a three-story brick building, 
of moderate dimensions. Across the front of this addition 
was a long, wide, old-fashioned stoop. This was well sup- 
plied with comfortable arm-chairs, which furnished easy 
rests for guests or neighbors, and were well patronized by 
both, and especially during the summer season by the 
genial humorists of the place. On the opposite side of 
the street was a small house, a story and a half high, 
belonging to Judge Porter, and to which he built an 
addition. Then, as now, there were occasionally more 
visitors than the hotel could accommodate, and the 
neighbors assisted in entertaining them. Judge Porter 
did this frequently, and among his guests were President 
Monroe, Marshal Grouchy, General La Fayette, General 
Brown, General Scott, Judge Spencer, and other distin- 
guished strangers. 

The first building erected on the ground where the 
Cataract House now stands was of a later date — 1824 — 
a frame house about fifty feet square. It was purchased 
by General Whitney in 1826, and formed the nucleus of the 
great pile which constitutes the present Cataract House. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. I03 

In 1829, the carriage road down the bank to the ferry 
on the Canadian side was made. For several years pre- 
vious the principal hotel at the Falls was also on that 
side. It was called the Pavilion, and stood on the high 
bank just above the Horseshoe Fall. It commanded a 
grand view of the river above, and almost a bird's-eye 
view of the Falls and the head of the chasm below. The 
principal stage-route from Bufifalo was likewise on that 
side, and the register of the Pavilion contained the names 
of most of the noted visitors of the period. But the erec- 
tion of the Cataract House and the establishing of stage- 
routes on the American side drew away much of its 
patronage, and finally, on the completion of the first half 
of the Clifton House, in 1833, it was quite abandoned. 
A few years later the Ontario House was built, about 
half-way between the Clifton and the Horseshoe Fall, 
toward which it fronted. There was not sufficient busi- 
ness to support it, and after standing unoccupied for 
several years, it took fire and was burned to the ground. 
The Clifton was greatly enlarged and improved by 
Mr. S. Zimmerman in 1865. The Amusement Hall and 
several cottages were built and gas-works erected. The 
grounds were handsomely graded and adorned. 

Near the site of Table Rock is the Museum, its val^ 
uable collection being the result of several years' labor 
by its proprietor, Mr. Thomas Barnett. It contains sev- 
eral thousand specimens from the animal and mineral 
kingdoms, and the galleries are arranged to represent 
a forest scene. 

Just above the Museum the visitor steps upon what 



104 NIAGARA. 

remains of the famous Table Rock. It was once a bare 
rock paveVnent, about fifteen rods long and about five 
rods wide, about fifty feet of its width projecting beyond 
its base at the bottom of the limestone stratum nearly 
one hundred feet below. Remembering this fact, we can 
more readily credit the probable truth of the statement 
made by Father Hennepin — which we have before 
noticed — that the projection on the American side in 
1682, when he returned from his first tour to the West, 
was so great that four coaches could drive abreast under 
it. On top of the debris below the bank lies the path by 
which Termination Rock, under the western end of the 
Horseshoe, is reached. It is a path which few neglect 
to follow. 

The Table itself has always been, and must continue 
to be, a favorite resort for visitors. The combined view 
of the Falls and the chasm below, as well as the rapids 
above, is finer, more extensive, here than from any other 
point. Moreover, the nearness to the great cataract is 
more sensibly felt, the communion with it is deeper and 
more intimate than it can be anywhere else. The view 
from this point can be most pleasantly and satisfactorily 
taken in the afternoon, when the spectator has the sun 
behind him, and can look at his leisure and with unvexed 
eyes at the brilliant scene before him. However long he 
may tarry he will find new pleasure in each return to it. 

Two miles above, following round the bend of the 
Oxbow toward Chippewa, and down near the water's 
edge, is the Burning Spring. The water is impregnated 
with sulphureted hydrogen gas, and is in a constant state 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 105 

of mild ebullition. The gas is perpetually rising to the 
surface of the water, and when a lighted match is applied 
it burns with an intermittent flame. If, however, a tub 
with an iron tube in the center of its bottom is placed 
over the spring, a constant stream of gas passes through 
it. On being lighted it burns constantly, with a pale 
blue, wavering flame, which possesses but little illuminat- 
ing or heating power. The drive is a pleasant one, 
affording a fine view of the Oxbow Rapids and islands 
and the noble river above. 

A mile and a quarter west of Table Rock is the 
Lundy's Lane battle-ground. On the crown of the hill, 
where the severest struggle occurred, are two rival 
pagodas challenging the tourist's attention. From the 
top of each he has a rare outlook over a broad level 
plain, relieved on its northern horizon by the top of 
Brock's Monument, and to the south-east by the city of 
Buffalo and Lake Erie. 

The obliging custodian of either tower will enlighten 
his hearers with dextrous volubility, and, according as 
he is certain of the nationality of his listeners, will the 
Stars and Stripes wave in triumph, or the Cross of Saint 
George float in glory, over the bloody and hard-fought 
field. If he cannot feel sure of his listeners' habitat, 
like Justice, he will hold an even balance and be blind 
withal. 

It was the writer's privilege to go over the field on a 
pleasant June day with Generals Scott and Porter, and to 
learn from them its stirring incidents. General Scott 
pointed out the location of the famous battery on the 



I06 ' NIAGARA. 

British left which made such havoc with his brave 
brigade, and in taking which the gallant Miller converted 
his modest " I'll try, sir," into a triumphant "It is done." 
The General also found the tree under which, faint from 
his bleeding wound, he sat down to rest, placing its pro- 
tecting boll between his back and the British bullets, as 
he leaned against it. Plucking a small wild flower grow- 
ing near it, he presented it to one of the ladies of the 
party, telling her that " it grew in soil once nourished by 
his blood." 

General Porter showed us where, with his volunteers 
and Indians, he broke through the woods on the British 
right, just as Miller had captured the troublesome bat- 
tery, thus aiding to win the most obstinate and bloody 
fight of the war. Its hard-won trophies, however, were 
too easily lost, as, by some misunderstanding or neglect of 
orders, the proper guard around the field was not main- 
tained, and, in the darkness proverbially intense just before 
day, the British returned to the field and quietly removed 
most of the guns. So our English friends claim it was a 
drawn battle. 

Nearly half a century later a dinner was given at 
Queenston by our Canadian friends, to signalize the 
completion of the Lewiston Suspension Bridge. On this 
occasion a British-Canadian officer, the late Major Wood- 
ruff, of St. David's, who served with his regiment during 
the war, was called upon by the chairman, the late Sir 
Allan McNabb, to follow, in response to a toast, the late 
Colonel Porter, only son of General Porter. In a mirth- 
ful reference to the stirrin? events of the war he alluded 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 107 

to the British retreat after the battle of Chippewa, and 
condensing the opposing forces into two personal pro- 
nouns, one representing General Porter and the other him- 
self, he turned to Colonel Porter and said : " Yes, sir, I 
remember well the moving events of that day, and how 
sharp he was after me. But, sir, he was balked in his 
purpose, for although he won the victory I won the race, 
and so we were even." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Incidents — Fall of Table Rock — Remarkable phenomenon in the river — 
Driving and lumbering on the Rapids — Points of the compass at the 
Falls — A first view of the Falls commonly disappointing — Lunar bow 
— Golden spray — Gull Island and the gulls — The highest water ever 
known at the Falls — The Hermit of the Falls. 

OF incidents, curious, comic, and tragic, connected 
with the locahty the catalogue is long, but we must 
make our recital of them brief. 

We have before referred to Professor Kalm's notice of 
the fall of a portion of Table Rock previous to 1750. 
Authentic accounts of like events are the following : In 
1 8 18 a mass one hundred and sixty feet long by thirty 
wide; in 1828 and '29 two smaller masses; also in 1828 
there went down in the center of the Horseshoe a huge 
mass, of which the top area was estimated at half an acre. 
If this estimate was correct, it would show an abrasion 
equivalent to nearly one foot from the whole surface of 
the Canadian Fall. In April, 1843, a mass of rock and 
earth about thirty- five feet long and six feet wide fell 
from the middle of Goat Island. In 1847, j"st north of 
the Biddle Stairs, there was a slide of bowlders, earth, and 
gravel, with a small portion of the bed-rock, the whole 
mass being about forty feet long and ten feet wide. About 




Opposite page 109. Fall of Table Kock. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 109 

every third return of spring has increased the abrasion 
at these two points. At the first-named point more than 
twenty feet in width has disappeared, with the whole of 
the road crossing the island. From the latter point, 
near the Biddle Stairs, which was a favorite one for viewing 
the Horseshoe Fall, the seats provided for visitors and 
the trees which shaded them have fallen. 

On the 25th of June, 1850, occurred the great down- 
fall which reduced Table Rock to a narrow bench along 
the bank. The portion which fell was one immense solid 
rock two hundred feet long, sixty feet wide, and one hun- 
dred feet deep where it separated from the bank. The 
noise of the crash was heard like muffled thunder for 
miles around. Fortunately it fell at noonday, when but 
few people were out, and no lives were lost. The driver 
of an omnibus, who had taken off his horses for their 
midday feed, and was washing his vehicle, felt the pre- 
liminary cracking and escaped, the vehicle itself being 
plunged into the gulf below. 

In 1850, a canal-boat that became detached from a 
raft, went down the Canadian Rapids, turned broadside 
across the river before reaching the Falls, struck amid- 
ships against a rock projecting up from the bottom and 
lodged. It remained there more than a year, and when 
it went down took with it a piece of the rock apparently 
about ten feet wide and forty feet long. At the foot of 
Goat Island some smaller masses have fallen, and three 
extensive earth-slides have occurred. 

In the spring of 1852 a triangular mass, the vertex of 
which was just beyond or south of the Terrapin Tower, 



I lO NIAGARA. 

while its altitude of more than forty feet lay along the 
shore of the south corner of Goat Island, fell in the night 
with the usual grinding crash. And with it fell some 
isolated rocks which lay on the brink of the precipice in 
front of the tower, and from which the tower derived its 
name. Before the tower was built, some person looking at 
the rocks from the shore suggested that they looked like 
huge terrapins sunning themselves on the edge of the 
Fall. A few days after the fall of the triangular mass, 
a huge column of rock a hundred feet high, about four- 
teen feet by twelve, and flat on the top, became separated 
from the bank and settled down perpendicularly until its 
top was about ten feet below the surface rock. It stood 
thus about four years, when it began gradually to settle, 
as the shale and stone were disintegrated beneath it, and 
finally it tumbled over upon the rocks below, furnishing an 
illustration of the manner in which we suppose the rocks 
which once accumulated below the Whirlpool must have 
been broken down. In the spring of 1871 a portion of the 
west side of the sharp angle of the Horseshoe, apparently 
about ten by thirty feet, went down, producing a decided 
change in the curve. 

On the 7th day of February, 1877, about eleven 
o'clock of a cold, cloudy day, there occurred the most 
extensive abrasion of the Horseshoe Fall ever noted. 
It extended from near the water's edge at Table Rock, 
more than half the distance round the curve, some 
fifteen hundred feet, and at the most salient angle the 
mass that fell was from fifty to one hundred feet wide. 
By this downfall the contour of the Horseshoe was 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. I I I 

decidedly changed, the reentering angle being made 
acute and very ragged. Less than three months after- 
ward the abrasion was continued some two hundred feet 
toward Goat Island. 

The trembling earth and muffled thunder gave evi- 
dence of the immensity of the mass of fallen rock, but no 
one saw it go down. For several months after the fall, 
until the mass of rock got thoroughly settled in the bed 
of the Falls, the exhibition of water-rockets, sent up a 
hundred feet above the top of the precipice, was unique 
and beautiful. The greatest angle of retrocession, which 
had previously been wearing toward Goat Island, is again 
turning toward the center of the stream. 

On the 29th of March, 1848, the river presented a 
remarkable phenomenon. There is no record of a 
similar one, nor has it been observed since. The winter 
had been intensely cold, and the ice formed on Lake 
Erie was very thick. This was loosened around the 
shores by the warm days of the early spring. During 
the day, a stiff easterly wind moved the whole field up 
the lake. About sundown, the wind chopped suddenly 
round and blew a gale from the west. This brought 
the vast tract of ice down again with such tremendous 
force that it filled in the neck of the lake and the outlet, 
so that the outflow of the water was very greatly 
impeded. Of course, it only needed a short space 
of time for the Falls to drain oft" the water below 
Black Rock. 

The consequence was that, when we arose in the 
morning at Niagara, wc found our river was nearly half 



112 NIAGARA. 

gone. The American channel had dwindled to a respect- 
able creek. The British channel looked as though it 
had been smitten with a quick consumption, and was fast 
passing aw^ay. Far up from the head of Goat Island and 
out into the Canadian rapids the water was gone, as it 
was also from the lower end of Goat Island, out beyond 
the tower. The rocks were bare, black, and forbidding. 
The roar of Niagara had subsided almost to a moan. 
The scene was desolate, and but for its novelty and the 
certainty that it would change before many hours, would 
have been gloomy and saddening. Every person who 
has visited Niagara will remember a beautiful jet of water 
which shoots up into the air about forty rods south of the 
outer Sister in the great rapids, called, with a singular 
contradiction of terms, the "Leaping Rock." The writer 
drove a horse and buggy from near the head of Goat 
Island out to a point above and near to that jet. With a 
log-cart and four horses, he drew from the outside 
of the outer island a stick of pine timber hewed twelve 
inches square and forty feet long. From the top of the 
middle island was drawn a still larger stick, hewed on 
one side and sixty feet long. 

There are few places on the globe where a person 
would be less likely to go lumbering than in the rapids 
of Niagara, just above the brink of the Horseshoe Fall. 
All the people of the neighborhood were abroad, explor- 
ing recesses and cavities that had never before been 
exposed to mortal eyes. The writer went some distance 
up the shore of the river. Large fields of the muddy 
bottom were laid bare. The shell-fish, the uni- valves, 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. II 3 

and the bi-valves were in despair. Their housekeeping 
and domestic arrangements were most unceremoniously 
exposed. The clams, with their backs up and their open 
mouths down in the mud, were making their sinuous 
courses toward the shrunken stream. The small-fry of 
fishes were wriggling in wonder to find themselves 
impounded in small pools. 

This singular syncope of the waters lasted all the day, 
and night closed over the strange scene. But in the 
morning our river was restored in all its strength and 
beauty and majesty, and we were glad to welcome its 
swelling tide once more. 

It is a curious fact that nine out of every ten persons 
who visit the Falls for the first time, are on their arrival 
completely bewildered as to the points of the compass ; 
and this without reference to the direction from which 
they may approach them. All understand the general 
geographical fact that Canada lies north of the United 
States. Hence they naturally suppose, when they arrive 
at the frontier, that they must see Canada to the north of 
them. But when they reach Niagara Falls they look 
across the river into Canada, in one direction directly 
south, and in another directly west. Only a reference to 
the map will rectify the erroneous impression. It is cor- 
rected at once by remembering that the Niagara River 
empties into the south side of Lake Ontario. 

One other fact may be regarded as well-established, 
namely, that most visitors are disappointed when they 
first look upon the Falls. They are not immediately and 
forcibly impressed by the scene, as they had expected to 



114 NIAGARA. 

be. The reasons for this are easily explained. The chief 
one is that the visitor first sees the Falls from a point 
above them. Before seeing them, he reads of their great 
height ; he expects to look up at them and behold the 
great mass of water falling, as it were, from the sky. He 
reads of the trembling earth ; of the cloud of spray, that 
may be seen a hundred miles away ; of the thunder of 
the torrent, and of the rainbows. He does not consider 
that these are occasional facts. He may not know he is 
near the Falls until he gets just over them. At certain 
times he feels no trembling of the earth ; he hears no 
stunning roar ; he may see the spray scattered in all 
directions by the wind, and of course he will see no bow. 
Naturally, he is disappointed. But it is not long before 
the grand reality begins to break upon him, and every 
succeeding day and hour of observation impresses him 
more and more deeply with the vastness, the power, the 
sublimity of the scene, and the wonderful and varied 
beauty of its surroundings. Those who spend one or 
more seasons at Niagara know how very little can be 
seen or comprehended by those who " stop over one- 
train." 

They are fortunate who can see the Falls first from the 
ferry-boat on the river below, and about one-third of the 
way across from the American shore. The writer has fre- 
quently tried the experiment with friends who were will- 
ing to trust themselves, with closed eyes, to his guidance, 
and wait until he had given them the signal to look 
upward. 

Those who may be at Niagara a few nights before and 




Rock of Ages and Whirlwind Bridge. 

Opposite page 114. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. II 5 

after a full moon should not fail to go to Goat Island to 
see the lunar bow. It is the most unreal of all real 
things — a thing of weird and shadowy beauty. 

Another striking scene peculiar to the locality is wit- 
nessed in the autumn, when the sun in making its annual 
southing reaches a point which, at the sunset hour, is 
directly west from the Falls. Then those who are east 
of them see the spray illuminated by the slant rays of the 
sinking sun. In the calm of the hour and the peculiar 
atmosphere of the season, the majestic cloud looks like 
the spray of molten gold. 

In 1840 there was a small patch of stones, gravel, sand, 
and earth, called Gull Island, lying near the center of the 
Canadian rapid and about one hundred rods above the 
Horseshoe Fall. It was apparently twenty rods long 
by two rods wide, and was covered with a growth of 
willow bushes. It was so named because it was a 
favorite resort of that singular combination of the most 
delicate bones and lightest feathers called a gull. 

The birds seem large and awkward on the wing, but 
as they sit upon the water nothing can appear more 
graceful. They are far-sighted and keen-scented. Their 
eyes are marvels of beauty. They are eccentric in their 
habits, the very Arabs of their race — here to-day and 
gone to-morrow. They are gregarious and often assem- 
ble in large numbers. At times in a series of wild, rapid, 
devious gyrations, and uttering a low, mournful murmur, 
they seem to be engaged, as it were, in some solemn 
festival commemorative of their departed kindred. One 
moment the air will be filled with them and their sad 



Il6 NIAGARA. 

refrain ; the next moment the cry will have ceased and 
not a gull will be seen. They come as they go, summer 
and winter alike. In thirty years the writer has never 
been able to discover when nor whence they came. In 
winter they generally appear in the milder days, and 
their disappearance is followed by cooler weather. 

In the spring of 1847 ^ long and fierce gale from 
the west, which drove the water down Lake Erie, caused 
the highest rise ever known in the river. It rose six feet 
on the rapids, and for the first time reached the floor- 
planking of the old bridge. The greater part of Gull 
Island was washed down in this flood, and ten years 
later it had wholly disappeared. 

The vague tradition — the origin of which cannot 
be traced — that there is a flux and reflux of the 
waters in the Great Lakes, which embraces a period of 
about seven years, is not confirmed by our observa- 
tion, if it be intended to affirm that the ebb and flow 
are both completed in seven years. Our observation 
shows that there is a flow of about seven years, and a 
reflux, which is accomplished in the same period. The 
water in the Niagara was very low in 1843-4, again in 
1857-8, and again in 187 1-2. This last is the lowest 
long continued shrinkage ever known. It is, however, 
altogether probable that the general level of the lakes will 
fall hereafter, owing to the destruction of the forests and 
the cultivation of the land along their shores. In this 
case the waters of the Niagara and Detroit rivers may, in 
the far future, meet in the bed of Lake Erie, and their 
margins be covered with orchards and vineyards more 
extensive and productive than those along the Rhine. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. II 7 

The Hermit of the Falls, so called, Mr. Francis Ab- 
bott, came to the village in June, 1829. He was a rather 
good-looking, respectable young man, of moderate attain- 
ments, who was subject, apparently, to a mild form of 
intermittent derangement. Though his manner was 
eccentric, his conduct was harmless, and it is probable 
that his parents, who, it was afterward ascertained, were 
respectable members of the Society of Friends in Eng- 
land, encouraged his desire to travel, and furnished him 
the means to do so. He seems to have had some taste 
for music, and to have been a tolerable performer on the 
flute. He wandered much about the island, both night 
and day, and often bathed below the little fall on the 
south side of Goat Island, near its head. He lived alone 
in an unoccupied log-hut, directly across the island from 
this fall, until about the first of April, 1831, when he 
removed to a little cabin of his own building, on Point 
View. In June of that year, just two years after his 
arrival, he was drowned while bathing below the ferry. 
Ten days after, his body was found at Fort Niagara, 
brought back, and buried in the God's-acre at the Falls. 



8a 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Avery's descent of the Falls — The fatal practical joke — Death of Miss Rugg 
— Swans — Eagles — Crows — Ducks over the Falls — Why dogs have 
survived the descent. 

ON the morning of the 19th of July, 1853, a man was 
discovered in the middle of the American rapid, 
about thirty rods below the bridge. He was clinging 
to a log, which the previous spring had lodged against 
a rock. He proved to be a Mr. Avery, who had under- 
taken to cross the river above the night before, but, 
getting bewildered in the current, was drawn into the 
rapids. His boat struck the log, and was overturned, 
yet, by some extraordinary good fortune, he was able to 
hold to the timber. A large crowd soon gathered on the 
shore and bridge. A sign, painted in large letters, "We 
will save you," was fastened to a building, that the read- 
ing of it might cheer and encourage him. Boats and 
ropes were provided, with willing hands to use them. 
The first boat lowered into the rapids filled and sank 
just before reaching Avery. The next, a life-boat, 
which had been procured from Buffalo, was let down, 
reached the log, was dashed off by the reacting waters, 
upset, and sank beside him. Another light, clinker-built 
boat was launched, and reached him just right. But, in 
some unaccountable manner, the rope got caught be- 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. II9 

tween the rock and the log. It was impossible to loosen 
it. Poor Avery tugged and worked at it with almost 
superhuman energy for hours. The citizens above pulled 
at the rope until it broke. 

By this time a raft had been constructed, with a strong 
cask fastened to each corner, and ropes attached so that 
Avery could tie himself to it. It was lowered, and 
reached him safely. He got on it and seized the ropes. 
Every heart grew lighter as the rescuers moved across 
the lower part of Bath Island, drawing in the rope, while 
the raft swung easily toward Goat Island. But when it 
reached the head of Chapin's Island, all hopes were 
dashed again. The rope attached to the raft got caught 
in the rocks as it was passing below a ledge in a swift 
chute of water. All efforts to loosen it were in- 
effectual. Another boat was launched and let down- 
stream. It reached the raft all right, and Avery, in his 
eagerness to seize it, dropped the ropes he had been 
holding, stepped to the edge of the raft, with his hands 
extended to catch the boat, when the raft, under his 
weight, settled in the water, and, just missing his hold, 
he was swept into the rapids, went down the north side 
of Chapin's Island, and, almost in reach of it, in water so 
shallow that he regained his feet for an instant, threw up 
his hands in despair, fell backward, and went over the 
Fall. The tragedy lasted eighteen hours. 

The names connected with the next incident are sup- 
pressed, out of regard for the feelings of surviving friends. 
It is given as a warning to future visitors to Niagara not 
to attempt any mirthful experiments around the Falls. 



I20 NIAGARA. 

A party of ladies, gentlemen, and children were on Luna 
Island, near a small beech tree, since destroyed, called 
"the Parasol." A young girl of ten was standing near 
her mother, just on the brink of the water, when a young 
man of twenty-two stepped up beside her and seized her 
playfully by the arms, saying, " Now, Nannie, I am going 
to throw you in," and swung her out over the water. 
Taken by surprise and frightened, she struggled, twisted 
herself out of his grasp, and fell into the rapid within twenty 
feet of the brink of the precipice. Instantly the young man 
plunged in after her, seized hold of her dress, and swung 
her around toward her half-distracted mother, who almost 
reached her as she slipped by and went over the Fall, 
immediately followed by the young man. The young 
girl was found some days afterward, lying on her back, 
on a large rock, holding her open parasol above her head, 
as though she had lain down to rest. A few weeks after- 
ward the father of the young man was coming up the 
river, on the Maid of the Mist, from the lower landing. 
A body was discovered floating in the water, and, by the 
aid of a small boat, was brought on board the steamer. It 
was that of his son. 

On the 23d of August, 1844, Miss Martha K. Rugg 
was walking to Table Rock with a friend. Seeing a 
bunch of cedar-berries on a low tree, which grew out 
from the edge of the bank, she left her companion, reached 
out to pick it, lost her footing, and fell one hundred and 
fifteen feet upon the rocks below. She survived about 
three hours. Pilgrims to Table Rock used to inquire 
for the spot where this accident happened. The follow- 
ing spring, an enterprising Irishman brought out a table 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 121 

of suitable dimensions, set it down on the bank of the 
river, and covered it with different articles, which he 
offered for sale. In order to enlighten strangers about 
the spot, he provided a remarkable sign, which he set up 
near one end of the table. This sign was a monumental 
obelisk, about five feet high, made of pine boards, and 
painted white. On the base he painted, in black letters, 
the following inscription : 

" Ladies fair, most beauteous of the race, 
Be.vare and shun a dangerous place. 
Miss Martha Rugg here lost a life, 
Who might now have been a happy wife." 

An envious competitor, one of his own countrymen, 
brought his own table of wares, and placed it just 
above the original mourner. Thereupon, the latter, de- 
termining that his rival should not have the benefit of his 
sign, removed it below his own table, having first removed 
the table itself as far down as circumstances would permit. 
Then he added his master-stroke of policy. Up to that 
time the monument had been stationary. Thencefor- 
ward, every day on quitting business he put it on a 
wheelbarrow and took it home, bringing it out again 
on resuming operations in the morning. 

Previous to the War of 1812, the Niagara River 
abounded in swans, wild geese, and ducks. Since that 
war none of the swans have been seen here, except two 
pair which came at different times. One of each pair 
went over the Falls, and was taken out alive but stunned. 
Their mates, faithful unto death, were shot while watch- 
ing and waiting for their return. 



122 NIAGARA. 

Eagles have always been seen in the vicinity, and a 
few have been captured. A single pair for many years 
had their aerie in the top of a huge dead sycamore tree, 
near the head of Burnt Ship Bay. It was interesting to 
watch the flight of the male bird when he left his brood- 
ing mate to go on a foraging expedition. Leaving the 
topmost limb that served as his home observatory, he 
would sweep round in a circle, forming the base of a regu- 
lar spiral curve, in which he rose to any desired height. 
Then, having apparently determined by scent or sight, or 
by both, the direction he would take, he sailed grandly off. 
How grandly, too, on his return, he floated to his lofty 
perch with a single fold of his great wings, and sat for a 
few moments, motionless as a statue, before greeting 
his mate. When the young eaglets had but recently 
chipped their shells, passing sportsmen were content to 
view the majestic pair at a respectful distance. A pair of 
eagles, each carrying ten talons, a hooked beak, a strong 
pair of wings, and an unerring eye, all backed and pro- 
pelled by an indomitable will and courage, are not to be 
recklessly trifled with. 

Early in July, 1877, two farmers riding in a buggy 
from Bergholtz, in the easterly part of the town of 
Niagara, toward the town of Wilson on Lake Ontario, 
saw a large gray eagle sitting on a fence by the roadside, 
and watching with much interest some object in a field 
beyond. Leaving their buggy, they ascertained that the 
object of its solicitude was an eaglet sitting on the 
ground, unable to fly, his wings and feathers having been 
drenched by a heavy shower. One of the men who first 
reached the young bird found it rather bellicose, and 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 1 23 

while attempting to secure it was surprised by a vigorous 
thump on the head from the old bird, accompanied with 
a sensation of sharp claws in his hair which nearly pros- 
trated him. His assailant then rose quickly some forty 
feet in the air, and, turning again, descended upon the 
man with such force as to compel him to relinquish his 
game. His friend joined him, and for nearly half an 
hour the two were engaged in a fierce fight with the 
resolute bird, which they estimated would measure 
eight feet across the extended wings. The eagle would 
soar quickly upward as at first until it reached the 
desired range, when it would turn upon them with 
great fierceness, thumping with its wings and striking 
with its talons at their very faces. Finally, securing a 
number of good-sized cobble-stones, they advanced again 
upon the eaglet, and were at once attacked by the parent. 
But they used their stone artillery with vigor, and suc- 
ceeded in getting the eaglet to their buggy, leaving its 
gallant defender still unconquered and soaring in the air 
with a slightly injured wing. 

Before the War of the Rebellion, Niagara was a favor- 
ite resort of that winged scavenger, the crow, and, at 
times, they were very numerous. But after the first 
year of the war they entirely disappeared. Snuffing the 
battle from afar, they turned instinctively to the South, 
and did not re-appear among us until several years after 
the war had ended. 

Large numbers of ducks formerly went over the Falls, 
but not for the reason generally assigned, namely, that 
they cannot rise out of the rapids. It is true that they 
cannot rise from the water while heading up-stream. 



124 NIAGARA. 

When they wish to do so, they turn down the current, 
and sail out without difficulty. No sound and living 
duck ever went over the precipice by daylight. Dark 
and especially foggy nights are most fatal to them. In 
the month of September, 1841, four hundred ducks were 
picked up below the Falls, that had gone over in the fog 
of the previous night. In two instances, dogs have been 
sent over the Falls and have survived the plunge. In 
1858 a bull-terrier was thrown into the rapids, also near 
the middle of the bridge. In less than an hour he came 
up the ferry-stairs, very wet and not at all gay. 

The reason why the dogs were not killed may be 
thus explained. From the top of the Rapids Tower, be- 
fore its destruction, the spectator could get a perfect view 
of the Canadian Fall. On a bright day, by looking 
steadily at the bottom of the Horseshoe, where water 
falls into water, he could see, as the spray was occasion- 
ally removed, a beautiful exhibition of water-cones, ap- 
parently ten or twelve feet high. These are formed by 
the rapid accumulation and condensation of the falling 
water. It pours down so rapidly and in such quantities 
that the water below, so to speak, cannot run off fast 
enough, and it piles up as though it were in a state of 
violent ebullition. These cones are constantly forming 
and breaking. If any strong animal should fall upon one 
of these cones, as upon a soft cushion, it might slide 
safely into the current below. The dogs were, doubtless, 
fortunate enough to fall in this way, aided also by the 
repulsion of the water from the rocks in the swift chan- 
nel through which they passed. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Wedding tourists at the Falls — Bridges to the Moss Islands — Railway at 
the ferry — List of persons who have been carried over the Falls — Other 
accidents. 

FOR many years Niagara has been a favorite resort 
for bridal tourists, who in a crowd of strangers can 
be so excessively proper that every one else can see how 
charmingly improper they are. 

The three fine, graceful bridges which unite Goat 
Island with the three smaller islands — the Moss Islands, 
or the Three Sisters — lying south of it were built in 
1858. They opened up a new and attractive feature of 
the locality, with which all visitors are charmed. Those 
who have been on them will remember what a broken, 
wild, tangled mass of rocks, wood, and vines they 
are. Nothing on Onalaska's wildest shore could be more 
thoroughly primitive. 

A rude path with steps cut in the slope of the bank 
was for several years the only way of getting down to the 
water's edge at the ferry. In 1825 several flights of 
stairs were erected, with good paths between, which made 
the task quite safe and easy. The double railway-track 
at the ferry was completed in 1845. When the necessary 
excavations were nearly finished, and people were told 
the object of it, the scheme met no approval from those 



126 NIAGARA. 

conservative persons who have no faith in new things. 
The idea of a railway "to go by water" was not con- 
sidered a brilHant one. Indeed, the greater number 
shrugged their shoulders at the thought of riding 
down that hill. But as soon as the lumber cars were 
started for the convenience of the workmen, and people 
saw how expeditious and easy was the trip, it was 
difficult to keep them off the cars. Hundreds of thou- 
sands of passengers have ridden in them without accident 
or injury. The motive power is a reaction water- 
wheel set in a deep pit, and as all the machinery is 
concealed, it has quite the appearance of a self-working 
apparatus. There is alongside of the railroad a straight 
stair- way of two hundred and ninety steps, for those who 
prefer to use it. 

The number of victims whom carelessness or folh- 
has sent over the Falls is large, and, it may be believed, 
is quite independent of the Indian tradition that the 
great cataract demands a yearly sacrifice of two human 
victims. 

Over the Falls. 

In iSiO the boat Independence, laden with salt, filled and 
sunk while crossing to Chippewa. The captain 
and two of the crew went over the Falls. One 
of the crew clung to a large oar, and was saved 
by a small boat from Chippewa. 
1 82 1 Two men in a scow were driven down the cur- 
rent by the wind, and went over the Falls. 



LOCAL HLSTORY AND LN'CIDENTS. 12/ 

1825 Two men in a boat from Grand Island went 
over. 

— Three men went over in three different canoes. 
1 84 1 Two men, engaged in smuggHng, were upset in 

the current ; one went over. One was found 
dead on Grass Island. 

— Two men who were carrying sand in a scow 
were drawn into the current and went over. 

1847 A lad of fourteen undertook to row across on a 
Sunday morning, and went over. 

1848 In August, a man in a boat passed under the 
Goat Island Bridge, within ten feet of the shore ; 
he asked of persons on the bridge, " Can I be 
saved?" Soon after the boat upset, and he 
went over, feet foremost, struck on the rocks 
below, and was never seen afterward. 

— A little boy and girl were playing in a skiff, 
which swung off the shore; the mother waded 
into the water and rescued the girl. The boy, 
sitting in the bottom of the skiff, with a hand on 
each side, went over. 

1870 A lady from Chicago, said to be deranged, threw 
herself from Goat Island Bridge, and went over. 

1 87 1 In June three men, unacquainted with the river, 
hired a boat to cross, were drawn into the rapids 
and went over. 

— In July two men in a boat went over. 

1873 Friday, July 4th, a young man and woman, and 
a boy twelve years of age, brother of the latter, 
hired a boat in Chippewa, ostensibly for a sail 



128 NIAGARA. 

on the river. Not understanding the currents, 
they were drawn into the rapids and carried 
over the Horseshoe Fall. The bodies were not 
recovered. It was afterward ascertained that 
the young man had taken $500 from his father, 
in Ohio; had come to Chippewa to meet the 
young woman, who was from Toronto, to whom 
he was married on the day preceding their 
death. 

1874 September 19th, a young man connected with 
the Mohawk Institute, at Brantford, Canada — 
whether as student or instructor was not known 
— walked deliberately into the rapids above 
Table Rock, and was carried over the preci- 
pice, never to be seen again. 

1875 September 8th, Captain John Jones — at that 
time marine surveyor for a New York insurance 
company — jumped into the rapids below Goat 
Island Bridge, and went over the cliff, before the 
eyes of many excursionists. Ill-health was sup- 
posed to be the cause. The body was not found. 

1877 March 5th, Mr. G. Homer Stone, aged twenty- 
four, a school-teacher, living near Geneva, N. Y., 
leaped into the rapids, near the upper end of 
Prospect Park, and was carried over the Falls. 
The body was not recovered. 
July 1st, three men went out in a sail-boat from 
Connor's Island, during a high wind and very 
rough water. Attempting a starboard tack, 
in order to reach Gill Creek Island, the boat was 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 1 29 

Upset, and two of them — after the three had tried 
in vain to right the boat, and found it difficult 
to keep their hold — abandoned it and tried to 
swim ashore ; but, owing to the rough sea and 
their wet and heavy clothing, they were soon 
exhausted, and went to the bottom. The third 
man, divesting himself of everything except his 
pantaloons, determined to swim for the nearest 
land the down-floating boat should pass. Fort- 
unately, a large boat, manned by three sturdy 
oarsmen, coming up the river, rescued him, after 
he had become nearly exhausted. Three days 
after the accident one of the bodies was found 
near Grass Island, above the Falls, and the 
other, two days later, in the Whirlpool below. 

1877 October i6th, the discovery in the morning of 
several articles of female apparel on a flat rock, 
near the site of the old stone tower, and close to 
the brink of the Falls, led to investigation, which 
developed the fact that Miss Schofield, a young 
woman from Woodstock, in Canada, while suffer- 
ing from a sudden attack of brain fever, had 
thrown herself into the rapids, and gone over 
the Horseshoe Fall. She was a skillful teleg- 
rapher, and had some local literary reputation. 
Her body was never recovered. 

1878 April 1st, John and Patrick Reilley, brothers, 
started from Port Day, above the Falls, to row 
across to Chippewa. One of them, being under the 
influence of liquor, refused to row steadily and 

9 



130 NIAGARA. 

quarreled with his brother, thus prev'enting him 
from rowing. They were drawn over the Canadian 
side of the Horseshoe Fall about four o'clock 
in the afternoon. They were both skillful row- 
ers, and well acquainted with the river, which 
they had crossed and rccrossed many times. 
Their bodies were recovered several weeks later. 

1878 April 6th, a young man, nineteen years of age, 
from Woodstock, Canada, a member of the 
Queen's Own, a volunteer regiment, which had 
attended a recent militar}- review at Montreal, 
was on his return home, and crossed from Chip- 
pewa to Nav)- Island to \isit friends who kept 
small boats on both sides of the river. After 
finishing his visit, he declined to accept the 
assistance of a young relative in recrossing the 
ri\-er. and started alone. The result was that, 
not understanding the force of the treacherous 
current, he was carried into the great rapids and 
went over the Horseshoe Fall. His body was 
found, two days afterward, below the ferry. 

1879 June 21st, the names of Monsieur and Madame 
Rolland were registered at one of the hotels, 
where they spent a night, but took their meals 
at a restaurant kept b}' a Frenchman, because 
Monsieur R. could not, as he said, speak 
English. The following morning they went to 
the Moss Islands. While near the lower end of 
the outer island, so the husband claimed, madame 
took a cup from him to get a drink of water 



LOCAL HISTORY AND IXCIDEXTS. 131 

from the rapids, and, while his attention was 
diverted for a moment, he heard a splash in the 
water, and on looking round, saw that his wife 
had fallen into tlie rapids. She went over the 
Horseshoe Fall. He showed great distress and 
every demonstration of sorrow. Nevertheless, 
he left the next day for Xew York, after giving 
his address to the restaurant-keeper, who, a few 
days afterward, sent word to him that the body 
had been recoxered. Monsieur R. sent thirty 
dollars to pay expenses of burial, and sailed 
for France. Those who have seen the place 
where, according to his story, madame fell in, 
are skeptical on that point. 
1881 February 23d, a stranger named Doyle threw 
himself into the rapids from Prospect Park, and 
was carried over the American Fall. A body 
found some days after in tlie river below, 
claimed by friends to be his, was identified by a 
coroner's jury as that of a man named Rowell, 
whose body had been found some days before 
in the river, near the ferry, with a bullet through 
the head. It was never ascertained whether it 
was a suicide or an assassination. 
- — July 1 2th, the body of a woman was found float- 
ing below the Falls, having evidently come from 
the river above. Some female wearing apparel 
found on the shore of the rapids, below Goat 
Island Bridge, it was supposed belonged to tlie 
suicide. 



132 NIAGARA. 

1 88 1 Dr. H. and Mrs. S., of good birth, education, 
and social position, loved not wisely but too 
well. Exposure was certain and near. They 
met at Niagara, July 14th, and went over the 
Falls together. 
— September 5th, a man from Toronto plunged 
into the rapids at Table Rock, and went over. 
In a letter to a Toronto paper, he stated that 
domestic trouble was the impelling motive. 

Below the Falls. 

In 1 84 1 A number of British soldiers, stationed at Drum- 
mondville, attempted to swim across the rapids 
at the ferry at different times. None succeeded, 
and two were drowned. 

1842 A British soldier attempted to lower himself 
down the bank, opposite Barnett's Museum, in 
order to escape to the American shore. The 
rope broke, and he was killed by the fall. 

1844 In August, a gentleman was washed under the 
great Fall, from a rock on which he had stepped, 
against the remonstrances of the guide. He was 
drowned. 

1846 In August, a gentleman fell forty feet from a 
rock near the Cave of the Winds, and was in- 
stantly killed. 

1875 August 9th, two young women and three young 
men, residents of the village, went through the 
Cave of the Winds, as they had often done 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTSo 1 33 

1875 before, to enjoy the exhilarating bath. One of 
the young women, Miss P., stepped into one of 
the eddying pools lying a little outside of the 
usual track, and one of the young men, Mr. P., 
thinking she might find the current stronger than 
she anticipated, followed her, and while seeking a 
sure footing for himself to guard against acci- 
dent, the young lady lost her balance and fell 
into the current. Mr. P. endeavored to seize her 
bathing-dress, but not succeeding, sprang at 
once into the current, and both went over a 
ledge some eight feet high, at the foot of which 
Miss P. rose to her feet in an eddy, and sought 
support by leaning against a large rock lying 
adjacent to it. When Mr. P. rose to the surface 
he swam to her, and thinking they would be 
safer in an opening among smaller rocks on the 
opposite side of the eddy, he put his arm round 
her, and both made a desperate effort to reach 
the desired shelter. But the current proved 
too strong, and bore them both out into the 
river; Mr. P. swimming on his back, and sup- 
porting Miss P. with his right arm, while her 
right hand rested upon his shoulder. Suddenly 
they became separated. Miss P., apparently 
concluding that both could not be saved, disen- 
gaged herself from him, and immediately sank 
below the surface. Instantly her heroic friend 
plunged after her. A cloud of spray covered 
the troubled waters for a moment, and when it 
9a 



134 NIAGARA. 

passed nothing could be seen of the unfortunate 
pair. The treacherous under-currents bore them 
to their doom. Both bodies were recovered a 
few days afterward from the Whirlpool. 
1877 August 31st, Dr. Louis M. Stein registered at the 
International Hotel. The following day, after 
riding to different points on the American side 
of the Falls, he alighted at the upper Suspen- 
sion Bridge, and inviting a young bootblack 
to accompany him, he started across the bridge, 
talking rather incoherently on the way. When 
near the Canadian end he stopped, took from his 
pocket a roll of bills, gave the boy a dollar note, 
and returned the others to his pocket. He 
then started back, and when near the center of 
the bridge dropped his hand-bag and shawl, 
seized the boy, saying with an oath, " You have 
got to come, too ! " and attempted to climb over 
the railing. The boy successfully resisted, but 
the man got over and dropped from one of the 
wire stays into the river, one hundred and ninety 
feet below. He was probably killed instantly, 
and the body floated down the river, from 
which it was taken some ten days afterward 
and delivered to a son, who arrived from New 
York city. 
— December 25th, a man from Chatauqua County, 
N. Y., suffering from ill-health and misfortune, 
jumped from the new Suspension Bridge, and 
was never seen again. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 1 35 

The narrowest escape at the Falls was that of the man 
who, in January, 1852, fell from the Tower Bridge into 
the rapids, and was caught between two rocks just on the 
brink of the precipice, whence he was rescued, nearly- 
exhausted, by means of a rope. 

In 1874, Mr. William McCullough, while at work 
painting the small bridge between the first and second 
Moss Islands, missed his footing and fell into the middle 
of the channel ; he was carried down about fifty rods, and, 
going over a ledge into more quiet water, got on his feet 
and waded to a small rock projecting above the water, 
upon which he seated himself to collect his senses and 
await results. After several vain efforts to get a rope to 
him, Mr. Thomas Conroy, a guide, then connected with 
the Cave of the Winds, who had in the previous autumn 
conducted Professor Tyndall up to Tyndall's Rock, put 
on a pair of felt shoes, and, holding to an inch rope, 
picked his way with an alpen-stock, from a point a short 
distance up-stream, through favoring eddies and pools to 
McCullough. After a short rest, he put the rope around 
McCullough, under his arms, and winding the end around 
his own right arm, the two started shoreward. On reach- 
ing the deep water near the shore, both were taken off 
their feet, and, as the people pulled vigorously at the rope, 
their heads went under for a short distance, but they were 
safely landed. A contribution was taken up for Conroy's 
benefit, and Professor Tyndall, on hearing of the rescue, 
sent him a five-pound note. 

In view of the fact that nearly every year persons are 
drawn into the rapids and carried over the Falls, a New 



136 NIAGARA. 

York journalist suggested a most extraordinary method 
of saving them. He proposed that a cable should be 
stretched across the rapids, above the Falls, strong 
enough to arrest boats, and to which persons in danger 
might cling until rescued. But this kind and ingenious 
person forgot that old canal-boats, rafts of logs, and large 
trunks of trees, with roots attached, would be trouble- 
some things to hold at anchor. As well hope to stay an 
Alpine avalanche with pipe-stems. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The first Suspension Bridge — Tlie Railway Suspension Bridge — Extraor- 
dinary vibration given to the Railway Bridge by the fall of a mass of rock 
— De Veaux College — The Lewiston Suspension Bridge — The Suspen- 
sion Bridge at the Falls. 

ON the partial ^k'bmpletion of the Hydraulic Canal, the 
principal st/yickholders, with a number of invited 
guests, celebrated the event on July 4, 1857, by an 
excursion from Buffalo in the Cygnet, the first steamer 
that ever landed within tlie limits of the village of 
Niagara. The same route is followed during the season 
of navigation by tugs towing canal-boats and rafts out 
and in. No passenger boat, however, has been placed 
on the route, although the sail on the river is a charm- 
ing one. 

Mr. Charles EUet, in 1840, built the first suspension 
bridge over the chasm. He offered a reward of five dollars 
to any one who would get a string across it. The next 
windy day all the boys in the neighborhood were kiting, 
and before night a youth landed his kite in Canada and 
received the reward. The first iron successor of the 
string was a small wire cable, seven-eighths of an inch in 
diameter. To this was suspended a wire basket in which 
two persons could cross the chasm. The basket was 
attached to an endless rope, worked .by a windlass on 
each bank. At an entertainment given on the occasion 



138 NIAGARA. 

of the completion of the bridge, the good people of the 
embryo village at the bridge, elated with their new 
acquisition, were inclined to regard their neighbors at the 
Falls with patronizing sympathy. One of the latter said 
to Mr. Ellet, " This bridge is a very clever affair, and you 
only need the Falls here to build up a respectable village." 
"Well," he replied, "give me money enough and I will 
put them here." He had great faith in dollar-power. 

This bridge was an excellent auxiliary in the construc- 
tion of the present Railway Suspension Bridge, built by 
Mr. John A. Roebling. It was begun in 1852, and the 
first locomotive crossed it in March, 1855. It is one of 
the most brilliant examples of modern engineering, and 
stands unrivaled for its grace, beauty, and strength. 
Seizing at once upon the natural advantages of the 
location, the engineer resolved to combine the tubular 
system with that of the suspension bridge. The car- 
riage way was placed level with the banks of the river 
at the edges of the chasm. The railway track was 
placed eighteen feet above, on a level with the top of the 
secondary banks across which the two railroads were to 
approach it. The plan was perfect, and perfectly and 
faithfully executed in all its details. It is practically a 
skeleton tube. As the traveler passes over it in a car- 
riage or a railway car, from the almost total absence of 
any vibratory motion he feels at once that he is on a 
safe basis, and his sense of security is complete. 

One feature of the construction of the bridge may be 
noticed as having a bearing on the question of its 
durability. It is well known that when wrought-iron is 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 1 39 

exposed to long continued or oft repeated and rapid 
concussions, its fibers after a time become granulated, 
whereby its strength is greatly impaired and finally 
exhausted. It is also known that the effect of rhythmical 
or regular vibrations is more destructive than the effect 
of those which are inharmonious or irregular. Because 
of this, a body of men is never allowed to march to music 
across a bridge, nor is a large number of cattle ever driven 
across at one time, lest they should, by accident, fall 
into a common step and so overstrain or break down the 
bridge. It is the difference between a single heavy blow 
and an irregular succession of light ones. Hence, when 
harmonious, regular vibrations can be broken up, the 
destructive influence is greatly modified and retarded. 

The bridge is supported by two large cables on each 
side, one pair above the other, the lower pair being 
nearer together horizontally than the upper pair, so that 
a cross section of the skeleton tube would be shaped 
somewhat like the keystone of an arch. Each of these 
large cables is ten inches in diameter, and is composed of 
seven smaller ones, called strands. These smaller strands 
are made of number nine wire, and each one contains five 
hundred and twenty wires. Each of these wires was 
boiled three several times in linseed oil, giving it an 
oleaginous coating of considerable thickness and great 
adhesive power. Each wire was carried across the river 
separately, from tower to tower, by a contrivance of the 
engineers, the chief feature of which was a light iron pul- 
ley about twenty inches in diameter, suspended on what 
might be called a wire cord. This apparatus was called a 



HO NIAGARA. 

traveler, and curious and interesting was its performance 
as seen from below. It looked like a huge spider weav- 
ing an iron web. 

Six of the seven strands forming each of the cables 
were laid around the seventh as a center, and when 
all were properly placed they were again saturated with 
oil and paint. After this, by another contrivance of the 
engineers, they were wound or wrapped with wire, like 
winding a rope cable with marlin, and thus the whole 
cable was made into a thoroughly compact, huge, 
round, iron rope. This was covered with numerous coats 
of paint to prevent the oxidation of the inner wires. 
The oleaginous coating of the wires, together with the 
small triangular spaces between them, would seem to 
reduce the destructive power of the vibrations to zero. 
But the vibrations are very greatly reduced and the stiff- 
ness of the structure is greatly increased by the use of a 
series of triangular stays, the triangle being the only geo- 
metrical figure whose angles cannot be shifted. There are 
sixty-four of these triangles. Their hypothenuses are 
formed by over-floor stays of wire rope reaching from the 
tops of the towers to different points in the lower floor, 
this latter, of course, forming their common base and the 
towers their altitude. The stays are fastened to the sus- 
penders so as to form straight lines. As the towers and 
the floor are rigid and solid in the direction of the lines 
they represent, it follows that the intersections of the 
hypothenuses with the common base form so many sta- 
tionary points in the latter. These stationary points pre- 
sent a powerful resistance to vibrations. The side trusses, 
with their system of diamond-work braces and the weight 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. I4I 

of the railway track on the upper bridge, also help to 
stiffen the structure. There are likewise fifty- six under 
stays or guys of wire rope fastened to the rocks below, 
designed to prevent upward and lateral vibrations. A 
heavy locomotive with twenty loaded cars produced a 
depression of the upward curvature of the track of nearly 
ten inches. The ordinary loads make a depression of 
only five inches. 

In Part II., attention was directed to a point on the 
American side of the river, just below this bridge, where 
the disintegration of the shale and abrasion of the super- 
posed rock is strikingly exhibited. A singular phenom- 
enon was witnessed here in 1863. A mass of rock and 
shale, about fifty feet long, twenty feet wide, and sixty 
feet deep, fell with a great crash. Directly following the 
fall a remarkable motion was developed in the bridge 
itself A strong wave of motion passed through the 
whole structure from the American side to the opposite 
shore, and returned again to the same side. 

Some twelve or fifteen mechanics, who were at work 
on the upper or railway track, were so alarmed that they 
fled with all speed to the shore. The motion imparted to 
the bridge was incalculably greater than, and of a dif- 
ferent character from, any motion imparted by the crossing 
of the heaviest trains. The rocky mass which fell was 
forty rods below the bridge, and the hard floor on which it 
struck was more than two hundred and thirty feet beneath 
it. The mass itself fell about sixty feet average distance, 
and might have weighed five thousand tons. The extraor- 
dinary motion imparted to the bridge by the concussion 
must have been transmitted aloncf the bed-rock to the 



142 NIAGARA. 

anchorages on the American side, thence through the 
cables and the bridge across to the anchorages on the 
Canadian side, whence it returned to the American side. 

Mr. Donald McKenzie, master carpenter and super- 
intendent of repairs, who has been connected with the 
bridge constantly since its erection, and all the men 
under him at the time, confirm this statement, and declare it 
is impossible to exaggerate or describe the wave-like motion 
which they experienced while escaping to the shore. 

Haifa mile further down is De Veaux College, a noble 
charity endowed by the late Mr. Samuel De Veaux. He 
was for many years an active business man at Niagara, 
and by his integrity, industry, and wise enterprise accu- 
mulated a handsome fortune. His death occurred in 1852, 
and by his will he left nearly the whole of his estate to 
certain trustees to establish an institution for the care, 
training, and education of orphan boys. In addition to 
these, other pupils are received who pay a fixed price for 
their tuition, board, and incidentals. The institution has 
gained a high reputation for the thoroughness of its 
instruction and the excellence of its discipline. One of 
its sources of income is the amount received annually for 
admissions to the Whirlpool. Every visitor to that 
interesting locality will cheerfully pay the fee charged 
when he understands this fact. 

The suspension bridge below the mountain near Lew- 
iston, spanning the river where the water emerges from 
the fearful abyss through which it dashes for five 
miles, was built in 1856, by Mr. T. E. Serrel. The guys 
designed to protect it from the effect of the wind were 
fastened in the rocks on either side at the water's edge. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 143 

The great ice jam of 1866 tore from their fastenings, or 
broke off, many of these guys. Before they were replaced 
a terrific gale in the following autumn broke up the road- 
way, severed some of the suspenders, and left the struct- 
ure a melancholy wreck dangling in the air. 

The New Suspension Bridge, as it is called, just below 
the ferry at the Falls, was built in 1868. It is a light, 
graceful structure, standing one hundred and ninety feet 
above the water. Its length is twelve hundred feet, after 
the Brooklyn bridge the longest structure of the kind 
in the world, and it is the narrowest of those designed 
for carriage travel. To its narrowness it probably 
owed its safety from destruction during a fierce gale 
which occurred in the fall of 1869. The fastenings 
or dowels of several of the guys on the Canadian side 
were torn out, and the bridge at its center deflected down- 
stream more than its width, so that the surface of its 
road-way could not be seen half its length. Then its 
undulations from end to end — like a stair-carpet being 
shaken between two persons — were frightful, and for 
a time it was feared that either cables or towers must 
give way. After the gale subsided the old guys were 
made fast again, new ones were added, and two two-inch 
steel wire cables were stretched from bank to bank, and 
connected with the bridge by wire stays. Wrought-iron 
beams were afterward placed on the bottom stringers, and 
channel irons on the top beams of the side trestles, all of 
which were strongly bolted together. These improve- 
ments added much to the strength of the whole structure, 
and greatly increased its ability to resist horizontal 
deflection. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Blondin and his "ascensions" — Visit of the Prince of Wales — Grand 
illumination of the Falls — The steamer Caroline — The water-power of 
Niagara — Lord Dufiferin and the plan of an International Pari:. 

IN the year 1858, a short, well-rounded, fair-complex- 
ioned, light-haired Frenchman made his appearance 
at the Falls, and expressed a wish to put a tight-rope 
across the chasm below them, for the purpose of crossing on 
the rope and exhibiting athletic feats. He received little 
encouragement, but, having a Napoleonic faith in his star, 
he persevered, and finally obtained the necessary author- 
ity to place his rope just below the Railway Suspension 
Bridge. It was a well and evenly twisted rope, about 
two inches in diameter ; and after stretching it as taught as 
it could be drawn, it hung in a moderate catenary curve. 
Commencing at the shore ends he secured stays of small 
rope to the large one, placing them about eight feet apart. 
These were made fast to the shore in such a manner that 
all the stays on one side of the main rope were parallel 
to each other from the center outward to the ends. They 
were made tight somewhat in the manner that tent-cords 
arc tightened, and when the structure was complete it 
looked like the opposite sections of a gigantic spider- 
web. 




Blondiii ii(i>Miiy the Niagaia. 

(l))I)Osite page 145. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. I45 

At each end was a spacious inclosure, formed by a 
rough board fence, for the use of spectators. M. Blon- 
din — for this was the name of the new aspirant for acro- 
batic honors — also made an arrangement with the super- 
intendent of the railway bridge for its occupation during 
what, with a shade of irony, he called his " ascensions." 
Those who went within the inclosures and upon the 
bridge paid a certain sum. A contribution was asked of 
all outsiders. He selected Saturday as the day for fort- 
nightly ascensions, and advertised his intentions very 
liberally. The speculation was successful and gave 
great satisfaction to the spectators. He exhibited a 
variety of rope-walking feats, balancing on the cable, 
hanging from it by his hands and feet, standing on his 
head, and lowering himself down to the surface of the 
water. He also carried a man across on his back, 
trundled over a loaded wheelbarrow, and did divers other 
things, and also walked over in a sack. He sprinkled in 
a few extras to heighten the effect, as the knowing ones 
declared, such as slipping astride the cable, falling across 
a stay-rope, or dropping something into the water. In 
i860, he gave a special ascension in honor of the Prince of 
Wales. The Prince and his party occupied a sheltered 
space on the Canadian side, and Blondin walked to it from 
the opposite side, performing various feats on the way over. 
The Prince shook hands with him as he stepped into the 
shed, and commended his courage and nerve. 

As illustrating the power of the imagination over the 
nerves it may be noted that, if the great spider's-web had 
been stretched out anywhere on a level surface, and not 
10 



146 NIAGARA. 

more than three feet above the ground, a dozen men in 
any large community could have been found to walk it 
as unconcernedly, if not as gracefully, as the famous 
" ascensionist." After three years of successful labor at 
Niagara, he sought other air-spaces. 

The most notable occurrence, however, which empha- 
sized the visit of the Prince of Wales in that year was the 
illumination of the Falls late in the evening of a moonless 
night. On the banks above and all about on the rocks 
below, on the lower side of the road down the Canadian 
bank, and along the water's edge, were placed numerous 
colored and white calcium, volcanic, and torpedo lights. 
At a signal they were set aflame all at once. At the 
same time rockets and wheels and flying artillery were set 
off" in great abundance. The shores were crowded with 
spectators, and the scene was a most remarkable one. 
The steady, lurid light below and the intermittent flashes 
and explosions overhead, the seething, hissing volumes 
of flame and smoke rolling up from the deep abyss, the 
ghostly appearance of the descending stream, the ghastly 
swift current of white foam, the weird appearance of the 
cloud of spray with a faint and fantastic illumination at 
its base, which faded out in the dim light of the stars as 
it ascended, the peculiarly deep but muffled and solemn 
monotone of the falling water, the livid hue imparted to 
the faces of the quiet but deeply interested spectators, all 
made the scene memorable and impressive. When the 
Marquis of Lome and the Princess Louise visited the 
Falls in January, 1879, they saw them illuminated by 
electricity, the light having the illuminating power of 
32,000 candles. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 1 47 

In December, 1837, the steamer Caroline came down 
from Bufifalo to aid, it was said, the so-called Patriots, then 
engaged in an insurrection against the Canadian Govern- 
ment. A motley collection of adventurers on Navy Island 
constituted the disturbing, not to say attacking, force. 
At Chippewa was stationed a body of Canadian militia, 
under the command of Colonel — afterward Sir — Allan 
McNabb, who had the good fortune to win his spurs in a 
single almost bloodless campaign. By his direction a 
boat expedition was sent to attack the Caroline, as she lay 
at the old Schlosser dock. In the melee one American 
was killed. The steamer was set on fire, and her fasten- 
ings must have been burnt away, as also a part of her upper 
works, since the writer, ten years later, while returning 
from a fishing expedition, discovered her smoke-pipe lying 
at the bottom of the river, in a quiet basin not thirty rods 
below the dock. A cat-fish of moderate dimensions ap- 
peared to be keeping house in it, and, with his head barely 
projecting from one end, was serenely watching the cur- 
rent for whatever game it might bring to his iron parlor. 
After the new bridges were built connecting the Three 
Sisters with Goat Island, the guides and drivers, in their 
desire to enhance the interest of the scene, astonished 
travelers by informing them that it was the boiler of the 
Caroline which caused the extraordinary elevation of the 
water which we have before referred to as the Leaping 
Rock. 

Nine miles from the Falls is the Tuscarora Reserva- 
tion of four thousand acres. On this there are about 
three hundred and fifty Indians, mostly half-breeds, 



148 NIAGARA. 

engaged in agricultural pursuits, which supply a portion 
of their necessities. The Indian women who are seen at 
the Falls in the summer season working and vending 
different articles of bead-work belong to this community. 
The Tuscaroras have not been more fortunate than others 
of their race in bargaining with their white brothers, and 
their lands are now stripped of the fine oak timber and 
valuable wood which stood upon it a few years since, and 
which was sold in large quantities at small prices. 

As a compensation for this system of robbery we 
maintained a Christian missionary among them for a 
few years, and we boast that they are all Protestants. 
The resident missionary, a very worthy man, but a 
rather prosy preacher, always addressed his dusky 
audience in the English language, his thoughts being 
conveyed to thern by an interpreter. For many years 
the interpreter was a native Tuscarora, a fine specimen 
of his race, six feet tall, with a tawny complexion, 
dark, flashing eyes, and a musical voice. It was 
interesting to note his manner while acting as interpreter 
for different clergymen. When interpreting the pious 
but humdrum utterances of the passionless missionary, 
he stood at the right side of the preacher, with his left 
elbow resting on one end of the modest pulpit, and 
delivered himself with an air that seemed to say, " It 
does not amount to much, but I give it to you as it is." 
But the change was magical when, as sometimes hap- 
pened during the summer season, some eloquent preacher 
addressed the congregation. The natural courtesy of 
the interpreter led him, instead of putting his elbow on 




Opposite page 148. Indian Women Selling Bead-work. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 149 

the pulpit, to stand a -little to the rear of the strange 
preacher, respectfully waiting for his words. As the 
priest warmed into his subject the interpreter caught his 
spirit, straightened his fine figure to its full height, 
advanced to a line with the speaker, and as the theme 
was developed and the orator grew more and more 
eloquent, the excitement became contagious ; the Indian 
entered fully into its spirit, his face glowed with anima- 
tion, his eyes shone with a warmer light, his long arms 
were stretched forth, and with gestures energetic or sub- 
dued, but always graceful, and the varied inflections of 
his voice in harmony with the theme, he followed the 
discourse to the end. His audience, too, would become 
thoroughly aroused, and a little more animation would be 
infused into the plaintive tones of the closing hymn. 

One of the future attractions of Niagara, to sportsmen 
at least, may be the catching of California trout, twenty 
thousand of the fry having been put into the rapids by the 
writer in June, 1881. 

Concerning the manufactories, shops, rubbish, and 
litter along the race near the brink of the American 
Falls, which appear so uncouth and inharmonious, and 
which are noticed by strangers as being a desecration of 
the scene, it is only just to remark that the utilization of 
the water-power here, in the easiest and most economical 
manner, was one of the imperative necessities of the early 
settlement of the country. For many years a large terri- 
tory, lying on both sides of the river, was dependent 
upon the manufacturing, repairing, and milling facilities 
of this place. For furnishing these in those days, water- 
lOA 



I50 NIAGARA. 

power was the only agent. And the name — Manchester 
— given to the place by its early settlers only fore- 
shadowed their hope that it would one day rival its great 
English namesake. 

There are fewer manufactories on the old race-ways 
now than there were forty years ago, but many new ones 
have been located on the hydraulic canal that has been 
excavated at great expense, which leaves the river a mile 
above the Falls, and empties into the chasm half a mile 
below. The three years of unusual drought in the northern 
half of the United States, from 1876 forward, demon- 
strated how little dependence can be placed during the 
summer season on the ordinary water-powers of that 
region, and the attention of manufacturers has been newly 
drawn to Niagara. 

The early dream of growth in population and wealth 
at Niagara seems likely to be realized. Already exten- 
sive milling and manufacturing estabHshments have been 
put in operation, and others are in contemplation. When 
it is considered that engineers estimate the sum-total of all 
the water-power in the northern portion of the United 
States at less than 500,000 horse-power, and that, accord- 
ing to data furnished by the United States Lake Survey 
Bureau, the water-power of Niagara is equal to 1,500,000 
horse-power, we can form some idea of the vastness of 
the force which awaits the enterprise of American manu- 
facturers. 

" I understand, Mr. President," said Daniel Webster, 
in a speech prefacing a toast complimentary to the 
citizens of Rochester for their generous hospitality at the 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 151 

New York State Fair in 1844, "that the Genesee River 
has a fall of 250 feet within the limits of the city of 
Rochester. Sir, if the Thames had a fall of 250 feet within 
the limits of the city of London, London would not be 
a town — it would be a-1-1 t-h-e w-o-r-l-d!" and as he 
deliberately stretched out his great arms, and expanded 
his broad chest, while slowly pronouncing the last three 
words, one could almost see London gradually enlarging 
its ample borders in all directions. When the 1,500,000 
horse-power of Niagara is utilized for the economic wants 
of men, Niagara will not be a town — it will be a large part 
of all the world. 

On the 25th of September, 1878, in an after-luncheon 
speech before the Ontario Society of Artists at Toronto, 
Lord Dufferin, Governor-General of Canada, first publicly 
suggested the idea of creating an International Park from 
lands to be taken from both sides of the river adjacent to 
and including the Falls. He stated that he had conferred 
with Governor Robinson of New York upon the subject, 
and that the project was cordially approved by him. 
Governor Robinson, in his annual message the following 
winter, commended the project to the consideration of 
the Legislature, by whom a commission of distinguished 
gentlemen was appointed to investigate the subject and 
report thereon. After a full examination this commission 
reported warmly in favor of the plan, and their recom- 
mendation was cordially indorsed by a great many promi- 
nent citizens residing in different sections of the country. 
The press, too, was almost unanimously for it. A major- 
ity of the members of the Legislature to whom the report was 



152 NIAGARA. 

made would have passed a bill for the further prosecution 
of the scheme, but, unfortunately, it was ascertained that 
any bill they might pass for this purpose would be vetoed 
for economical reasons. It is hoped that better counsels 
may ultimately prevail, and the plan be perfected. 
Nothing else can save Niagara from total desecration and 
disgrace. The fact that there is not a square foot of 
land in the United States from which an untaxed view of 
the great cataract can be obtained is a disgrace to the 
State, the nation, and the civilization of the age. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Poetry in the Table Rock albums — Poems by Colonel Porter, Willis G. 
Clark, Lord Morpeth, Jose Maria Heredia, A. S. Ridgely, Mrs. 
Sigourney, and J. G. C. Brainard. 

BEFORE the last fall of Table Rock, there stood 
upon it for many years a comfortable summer-house, 
where people could take refuge from the spray, look at 
the Falls, partake of luncheon, and procure guides and 
dresses to go under the sheet. In the sitting-room was a 
large round table, on which were placed a number of 
albums, as they were called. In these visitors could write 
whatever thoughts or sentiments might be suggested by 
the scene. With the grand reality before them but few 
persons attempted anything serious, by far the greater 
number adopting the facetious vein. It was emphatically 
light literature. One or two collections of it have been 
published, furnishing the reader with only a modicum of 
sense to an intolerable quantity of nonsense. 

The following specimens are better than the average : 

" To view Niagara Falls, one day, 
A Parson and a Tailor took their way. 
The Parson cried, while rapt in wonder 
And list'ning to the cataract's thunder: 
* Lord ! how thy works amaze our eyes, 
And fill our hearts with vast surprise ! ' 
The Tailor merely made this note: 
' Lord ! what a place to sponge a coat ! ' " 



154 NIAGARA. 

" THOUGHTS ON VISITING NIAGARA. 

" I wonder how long you've been a roarin' 
At this infernal rate : 
I wonder if all you've been a pourin' 
Could be ciphered on a slate. 

" I wonder how such a thund'rin' sounded 
When all New York was woods ; 
I suppose some Indians have been drownded 
When rains have raised your floods. 

" I wonder if wild stags and buffaloes 
Hav'nt stood where now I stand ; 
Well, 'spose — bein' scared at first — they stub'd their toes, 
I wonder where they'd land ! 

" I wonder if the rainbow's been a shinin' 
Since sunrise at creation ; 
And this waterfall been underminin' 
With constant spatteration ! 

" That Moses never mentioned ye, I've wonder'd, 
While other things describin' ; 
My conscience ! how loud you must have thunder'd 
While the deluge was subsidin' ! 

" My thoughts are strange, magnificent, and deep 
While I look down on thee. 
Oh ! what a splendid place for washing sheep 
Niagara would be ! 

" And oh ! what a tremendous water power 
Is wasted o'er its edge ! 
One man might furnish all the world with flour 
With a single privilege. 

" I wonder how many times the lakes have all 
Been emptied over here ? 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 1 55 

Why Clinton didn't feed the Grand Canawl 
From hence, I think is queer." 

The most graceful verses on Niagara ever written by 
a resident are the following by the late Colonel Porter, 
who was an artist both with the pencil and the pen. 
They were written for a young relative in playful ex- 
planation of a sketch he had drawn at the top of a page 
in her album, representing the Falls in the distance, and 
an Indian chief and two Europeans in the foreground : 

" An Artist, underneath his sign (a masterpiece, of course) 
Had written, to prevent mistakes, 'This represents a horse' : 
So ere I send my Album Sketch, lest connoisseurs should err, 
I think it well my Pen should be my Art's interpreter. 

" A chieftain of the Iroquois, clad in a bison's skin, 

Had led two travelers through the wood, La Salle and Hennepin. 
He points, and there they, standing, gaze upon the ceaseless flow 
Of waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. 

" Those three are gone, and little heed our worldly gain or loss — 
The Chief, the Soldier of the Sword, the Soldier of the Cross. 
One died in battle, one in bed, and one by secret foe ; 
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 

" Ah, me ! what myriads of men, since then, have come and gone ; 
What states have risen and decayed, what prizes lost and won ; 
What varied tricks the juggler. Time, has played with all below : 
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 

" What troops of tourists have encamped upon the river's brink; 
What poets shed from countless quills Niagaras of ink ; 
What artist armies tried to fix the evanescent bow 
Of the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. 



156 NIAGARA. 

" And stately inns feed scores of guests from well replenished 

larder, 
And hackmen drive their horses hard, but drive a bargain 

harder ; 
And screaming locomotives rush in anger to and fro : 
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 

" And brides of every age and clime frequent the island's bower, 
And gaze from off the stone-built perch — hence called the 

Bridal Tower — 
And many a lunar belle goes forth to meet a lunar beau, 
By the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. 

" And bridges bind thy breast, O stream ! and buzzing mill- 
wheels turn. 
To show, like Samson, thou art forced thy daily bread to earn : 
And steamers splash thy milk-white waves, exulting as they go, 
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 

" Thy banks no longer are the same that early travelers found 

them, 
But break and crumble now and then like other banks around 

them ; 
And on their verge our life sweeps on — alternate joy and woe; 
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 

" Thus phantoms of a by-gone age have melted like the spray, 
And in our turn we too shall pass, the phantoms of to-day: 
But the armies of the coming time shall watch the ceaseless 

flow 
Of waters faUing as they fell two hundred years ago." 

On turning to the more serious poems that have been 
written on the theme, the reader naturally experiences a 
feeling of disappointment that a scene which has filled and 
charmed so many eyes should have found so few inter- 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 157 

preters. Only those who see Niagara know how fast the 
tongue is bound when the thought struggles most for 
utterance. One who seems to have experienced this 
feeling thus expresses it : 

" I came to see ; 
I thought to write ; 
I am but dumb." 

The late Mr. Willis G. Clark thus expands the same 
sentiment : 

" Here speaks the voice of God — let man be dumb. 
Nor with his vain aspiring hither come. 
That voice impels the hollow-sounding floods, 
And like a Presence fills the distant woods. 
These groaning rocks the Almighty's finger piled ; 
For ages here his painted bow has smiled, 
Mocking the changes and the chance of time — 
Eternal, beautiful, serene, sublime ! " 

The following from the Table Rock Album was written 
by the late Lord Morpeth : 

NIAGARA FALLS. — BY LORD MORPETH. 

" There's nothing great or bright, thou glorious Fall ! 
Thou mayest not to the fancy's sense recall. 
The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning's leap. 
The stirring of the chambers of the deep ; 
Earth's emerald green and many tinted dyes, 
The fleecy whiteness of the upper skies ; 
The tread of armies thickening as they come. 
The boom of cannon and the beat of drum ; 



158 NIAGARA. 

The brow of beauty and the form of grace, 

The passion and the prowess of our race ; 

The song of Homer in its loftiest hour, 

The unresisted sweep of human power ; 

Britannia's trident on the azure sea, 

America's young shout of Liberty ! 

Oh ! may the waves which madden in thy deep 

There spend their rage nor climb the encircling steep ; 

And till the conflict of thy surges cease 

The nations on thy banks repose in peace." 

The extracts below are from a poem written after a 
visit to the Falls by Jose Maria Heredia, and translated 
from the Spanish by William CuUen Bryant : 

"NIAGARA. 

" Tremendous torrent! for an instant hush 
The terrors of thy voice, and cast aside 
Those wide involving shadows, that my eyes 
May see the fearful beauty of thy face ! 



" Thou flowest on in quiet, till thy waves 
Grow broken 'midst the rocks; thy current then 
Shoots onward like the irresistible course 
Of destiny. Ah, terribly they rage,- — 
The hoarse and rapid whirlpools there ! My brain 
Grows wild, my senses wander, as I gaze 
Upon the hurrying waters ; and my sight 
Vainly would follow, as toward the verge 
Sweeps the wide torrent. Waves innumerable 
Meet there and madden, — waves innumerable 
Urge on and overtake the waves before, 
And disappear in thunder and in foam. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 159 

" They reach, they leap the barrier, — the abyss 
Swallows insatiable the sinking waves. 
A thousand rainbows arch them, and woods 
Are deafened with the roar. The violent shock 
Shatters to vapor the descending sheets. 
A cloudy whirlwind fills the gulf, and heaves 
The mighty pyramid of circling mist 
To heaven. * * * * 

What seeks my restless eye? Why are not here, 
About the jaws of this abyss, the palms, — 
Ah, the delicious palms, — that on the plains 
Of my own native Cuba spring and spread 
Their thickly foliaged summits to the sun. 
And, in the breathings of the ocean air 
Wave soft beneath the heaven's unspotted blue? 

" But no, Niagara, — thy forest pines 
Are fitter coronal for thee. The palm. 
The effeminate myrtle and pale rose may grow 
In gardens and give out their fragrance there. 
Unmanning him who breathes it. Thine it is 
To do a nobler office. Generous minds 
Behold thee, and are moved and learn to rise 
Above earth's frivolous pleasures ; they partake 
Thy grandeur at the utterance of thy name. 



Dread torrent, that with wonder and with fear 
Dost overwhelm the soul of him who looks 
Upon thee, and dost bear it from itself, — 
Whence hast thou thy beginning? Who supplies. 
Age after age, thy unexhausted springs? 
What power hath ordered that, when all thy weight 
Descends into the deep, the swollen waves 
Rise not and roll to overwhelm the earth? 



l60 NIAGARA. 

" The Lord hath opened his omnipotent hand, 
Covered thy face with clouds and given his voice 
To thy down-rushing waters : he hath girt 
Thy terrible forehead with his radiant bow. 
I see thy never-resting waters run, 
And I bethink me how the tide of time 
Sweeps to eternity." 

The lyric from which the following extracts are taken 
was written by Mr. A. S. Ridgely, of Baltimore, Md. : 

" Man lays his scepter on the ocean waste. 
His footprints stiffen in the Alpine snows. 
But only God moves visibly in thee, 
O King of Floods ! that with resistless fate 
Down plungest in thy mighty width and depth. 
* * * Amazement, terror, fill. 
Impress and overcome the gazer's soul. 
Man's schemes and dreams and petty littleness 
Lie open and revealed. Himself far less — 
Kneeling before thy great confessional — 
Than are the bubbles of the passing tides. 
Words may not picture thee, nor pencil paint 
Thy might of waters, volumed vast and deep ; 
Thy many-toned and all-pervading voice; 
Thy wood-crown'd Isle, fast anchor'd on the brink 
Of the dread precipice ; thy double stream. 
Divided, yet in beauty unimpaired ; 
Thy wat'ry caverns and thy crystal walls; 
Thy crest of sunlight and thy depths of shade, 
Boiling and seething like a Phlcgcthon 
Amid the wind-swept and convolving spray, 
Steady as Faith and beautiful as Hope. 
There, of beam and cloud the fair creation, 
The rainbow arches its ethereal hues. 
From flint and granite in compacture strong. 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. l6l 

Not with steel thrice harden'd — but with the wave 
Soft and translucent — did the new-born Time 
Chisel thy altars. Here hast thou ever poured 
Earth's grand libation to Eternity ; 
Thy misty incense rising unto God — 
The God that was and is and is to be." 

Mrs. Sigourney wrote the following poem, it is said, 
during a visit to Table Rock : 

)•; "apostrophe to NIAGARA. 

" Flow on, forever, in thy glorious robe 
Of terror and of beauty. God has set 
His rainbow on thy forehead, and the clouds 
Mantled around thy feet. And He doth give 
Thy voice of thunder power to speak of Him 
Eternally, bidding the lip of man 
Keep silence, and upon thy rocky altar pour 
Incense of awe-struck praise. 

And who can dare 
To lift the insect trump of earthly hope, 
Or love, or sorrow, 'mid the peal sublime 
Of thy tremendous hymn ! Even ocean shrinks 
Back from thy brotherhood, and his wild waves 
Retire abashed ; for he doth sometimes seem 
To sleep like a spent laborer, and recall 
His wearied billows from their vieing play, 
And lull them to a cradle calm : but thou. 
With everlasting, undecaying tide 
Dost rest not night nor day. 

The morning stars, 
When first they sang o'er young creation's birth, 
Heard thy deep anthem ; and those wrecking fires 
That wait the archangel's signal, to dissolve 
The solid earth, shall find Jehovah's name 
II 



1 62 NIAGARA. 

Graven, as with a thousand spears 
On thine unfathomed page. Each leafy bough 
That lifts itself within thy proud domain 
Doth gather greenness from thy living spray, 
And tremble at the baptism. Lo ! yon birds 
Do venture boldly near, bathing their wings 
Amid thy foam and mist. 'Tis meet for them 
To touch thy garment here, or lightly stir 
The snowy leaflets of this vapor wreath. 
Who sport unharmed on the fleecy cloud. 
And listen to the echoing gate of heaven 
Without reproof. But as for us, it seems 
Scarce lawful with our broken tones to speak 
Familiarly of thee. Methinks, to tint 
Thy glorious features with our pencil's point. 
Or woo thee with the tablet of a song. 
Were profanation. 

Thou dost make the soul 
A wondering witness of thy majesty; 
And while it rushes with delirious joy 
To tread thy vestibule, dost chain its step. 
And check its rapture, with the humbling view 
Of its own nothingness, bidding it stand 
In the dread presence of the Invisible, 
As if to answer to its God through thee." 

The following lines were written by the late John 
G. C. Brainard, who never saw the Falls. They were 
dashed off at a single short sitting, for the head of the 
literary column of the Connecticut Mirror, of Hartford, 
which he then edited : 

"the falls of NIAGARA. 

" The thoughts are strange that crowd into my brain 
While I look upward to thee. It would seem 



LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 163 

As if God pour'd thee from his ' hollow hand ' 

And hung his bow upon thine awful front, 

And spoke in that loud voice which seem'd to him 

Who dwelt in Patmos for his Saviour's sake, 

'The sound of many waters,' and had bade 

Thy flood to chronicle the ages back. 

And notch his cen'tries in the eternal rocks. 

" Deep calleth unto deep. And what are we 
That hear the question of that voice sublime ? 
Oh ! what are all the notes that ever rung 
From War's vain trumpet by thy thundering side ! 
Yea, what is all the riot man can make 
In his short life to thy unceasing roar ! 
And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him 
Who drown'd a world and heap'd the waters far 
Above its loftiest mountains? — a light wave 
That breaks and whispers of its Maker's might." 



PART IV. 

OTIIKR FAMOUS CATARACTS 
OF THE WORLD. 

chai'TI':r XIX. 

Yoscmitc — Vcriwl — Nevada — Yellowstone — .Shoshone — St. Maurice — 
Montmorency. 

1^i)\< the piuposc of comparison it may be interesting 
to note other cataracts in the United States, and in 
other parts of the world, and also some of the remarkable 
rapids, which may be successors to what were once per- 
pciulicuhir falls. For descriptions of those in foreign 
countries we are chiefly indebted to the geographical 
gazetteers and the journals of Humboldt, Livingstone, 
Bohle, and Stanley ; for informaticm regarding the cata- 
racts of Norway we are indebted to Murray's " Norway, 
Denmark and Sweden." 

In the United States, after Niagara, the first to claim 
our attention are the I'\ills of the Yosemite, so graphically 
and scientifically made known to us in the second vol- 
ume of Professor J. D. Whitney's Geological Report for 
California. 




Opposite page 164. 



Yosemite I<'alls. 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. 165 

Before describing them it is necessary to note the 
physical features of the region in which they are placed. 
The valley of the Yosemite forms a portion of the bed 
of the Merced River, which flows through it and passes 
from it by a wild, deep caiion into the San Joaquin. It 
is about eight miles long and from half a mile to a mile 
wide, with a sharp bend to the west, about two miles 
from its upper end. To this place the Merced and two 
tributaries, called the North and South Forks, have 
come through the most rugged canons, falling nearly 
two thousand feet in the space of two miles. 

Near the southerly end of the valley is the remark- 
able rock El Capitan, an almost vertical cliff 3,600 feet 
high, and one of the grandest objects in the valley. 
Just above this is the imposing pile called the Cathedral 
Rocks, and behind these, connected with them, two 
slender and beautiful granite columns called the Cathe- 
dral Spires. 

Two miles above, on the opposite side, is the row of 
summits, rising like steps one above another, named the 
Three Brothers. On the other side, in the angle of the 
valley, stands Sentinel Rock, so called from its fancied 
resemblance to a watch-tower. Three-fourths of a mile 
in a southerly direction from this is the Sentinel Dome, 
more than four thousand feet high and affording from its 
summit a most magnificent view. Following up the North 
Fork, just at the entrance of the caiion, rises the Half 
Dome, the grandest and loftiest in the Yosemite Valley, 
an inaccessible crest of granite, having an elevation — 
according to Prof Brewer — of 6,000 feet. On the oppo 
IIA 



l66 NIAGARA. 

site side of the same cafion stands the North Dome, 
another of those rounded masses of granite so charac- 
teristic of the sierras. Appearing as a buttress to this 
is Washington's Column, and below this the Royal 
Arches, an immense arched cavity, formed by the 
giving way and sliding down of portions of the rock, 
and presenting, in the upper part, a vaulted appear- 
ance. 

In the angle formed by the Merced with the South 
Fork is the symmetrical and beautiful North Dome. 
This valley is the most remarkable basin thus far found 
in the world, and in view of its gigantic and impressive 
scenery we cannot but marvel at its size — a mere cup 
or trough in the midst of one of the sublimest of 
geological formations. This tiny strip of wonder-land 
is, as we have seen, only eight miles long and less than 
three-quarters of a mile average width. 

Beginning at the south-westerly end of the valley we 
first reach, in ascending it, the Bridal Veil, formed by one 
of the torrents that feed the Merced River. It is i,000 
feet in height, the body of water not being large, but 
sufficient to produce the most picturesque effect. As it 
is swayed backward and forward by the force of the 
wind, it seems to flutter like a white veil. 

Near the head of the valley, where it turns sharply 
toward the west, we have before us the Yosemite Fall. 
" From the edge of the cliff to the bottom of the valley the 
perpendicular distance is, in round numbers, 2,550 feet. 
The fall is not one perpendicular sheet. There is first a 
vertical descent of 1,500 feet, when the v/ater strikes on 




Opposite page 166. 



Bridal Veil Fall. 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. l6j 

what seems to be a projecting ledge, but which is in 
reality a sheli' or recess about a third of a mile back from 
the front of the lower portion of the cliff. Across this 
shelf the water rushes downward in a foaming torrent on 
a slope, equal to a perpendicular height of 626 feet, when 
it makes a final plunge of about 400 feet on to a low talus 
of rock at the foot of the precipice. As these various 
falls are in one vertical plane, the effect of the whole 
from the opposite side of the valley is nearly as grand, 
and perhaps even more picturesque, than it would be 
if the descent was made in one sheet from the top to 
the bottom. The mass of water in the 1,500 feet fall 
is too great to allow of its being entirely broken up 
into spray, but it widens very much as it descends, 
and as the sheet vibrates backward and forward with 
the varying pressure of the wind, which acts with 
immense force on this long column of water, the effect 
is indescribably grand." 

The first fall in the canon of the Merced is the 
Vernal, "a simple perpendicular sheet 475 feet high, the 
rock behind it being a perfectly square-cut mass of 
granite. Ascending to the summit of the Vernal Fall by 
a series of ladders, and passing a succession of rapids and 
cascades of great beauty, we come to the last great fall 
of the Merced — the Nevada, which has a descent of 639 
feet, and near its summit has a peculiar twist caused by 
the mass of water falling on a projecting ledge which 
throws it off to one side, adding greatly to the picturesque 
effect. It must be ranked as one of the finest cataracts 
in the world, taking into consideration its height, the 



1 68 NIAGARA. 

volume and purity of the water, and the whole character 
of the scenery which surrounds it." 

The fall from end to end of the valley proper is about 
fifty feet. "Its smooth and brilliant color, diversified as it 
is with groves of trees and carpeted with showy flowers, 
offers the most wonderful contrast to the towering masses 
of neutral and light purple-tinted rocks by which it is 
surrounded. Its elevation above the sea is estimated 
at 4,060 feet, and the cliffs and domes about it from 
3,000 to 5,000 feet higher." It is a source of great 
satisfaction to the lover of nature that this famous and 
favored territory, so studded with grandeur and fretted 
with beauty, has wisely been set apart by Governmental 
authority to minister to the higher needs and better 
instincts of man. 

The valley of the Yellowstone east of the Rocky 
Mountains in the north, like that of the Yosemite west 
of the sierras of the Pacific slope, is another wonder- 
land, presenting a bewildering variety of land and water 
formations which, in turn, awe, charm, fascinate, or amuse, 
but always astonish, the beholder. 

Among the most interesting objects in the Yellow- 
stone Valley are the upper and lower falls of the 
Yellowstone River. " No language," says Professor 
Hayden, " can do justice to the wonderful grandeur 
and beauty of these scenes, and it is only through the 
eye that the mind can gather anything like an ade- 
quate conception of them. The two falls are not more 
than a fourth of a mile apart. Above the upper fall 
the Yellowstone flows through a grassy, meadow-like 




Opposite page 168. 



Vernal Falls. 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. 169 

valley with a calm, steady current, giving no warning 
until v<=^ry near the fall that it is about to rush over 
a precipice 140 feet high, and then, within a quarter 
of a mile, again leap down a distance of 350 feet. 
After the waters roll over the upper descent they flow 
with great rapidity along the upper flat, rocky bottom 
which spreads out to near double the width above the 
falls, and continues thus until near the fall, when the 
channel again contracts and the waters seem, as it were, 
to gather into a compact mass and plunge over the 
descent of 350 feet in detached drops of foam as white as 
snow." 

On the Snake or Lewis River, the largest tributary of 
the Columbia River, are three falls, the greatest of which 
is the Shoshone in Idaho, where the river, with a width of 
six hundred yards, is said to be of so great a depth that 
it discharges nearly as much water as the Niagara, over a 
precipice about two hundred feet high. This grand fall is 
situated in the midst of magnificent scenery, and is sur- 
rounded by a fertile country. 

Another lesser Niagara is found in the north-east, in 
the river St. INIaurice, the largest tributary of the St. 
Lawrence, which falls into it from the north below Three 
Rivers and about twenty-two miles above its mouth. The 
fall — the Shawenegan — is the same height as Niagara, 
and while the width and depth of the river are not given, 
the volume of water pouring over the precipice is said to 
be forty thousand feet per second, a supply sufficient to 
produce a grand and impressive cataract. 

Eight miles below Quebec the river Montmorency dis- 



I/O NIAGARA. 

charges directly into the St. Lawrence, over a cHff two 
hundred and fifty feet high, with a width of one hundred 
and fifty feet. The falHng foam-flecked sheet presents 
a beautiful and picturesque appearance. It is unique as 
being the only known instance in which a tributary falls 
perpendicularly into the main stream. 




Opposite pai;e 171 



Nevada Falls 



CHAPTER XX. 

Tequendama — Kaiteeur — Paulo Affonso — Keel-fos — Riunkan-fos — Sarp- 
fos — Staubbach — Zambesi or Victoria — Murchison — Cavery — Schaff- 
hausen. 

IN South America is the remarkable fall of Tequen- 
dama, on the river Bogota, which, at this point, is only 
one hundred and forty feet wide, and is divided into nu- 
merous narrow and deep channels which finally unite in 
two of nearly the same width, and make a perpendicular 
plunge of six hundred and fifty feet to the plain below. 
"The cataract," says Humboldt, "forms an assemblage 
of everything that is sublimely picturesque in beautiful 
scenery. It is not one of the highest falls, but there 
scarcely exists a cataract which, from so lofty a height, 
precipitates so voluminous a mass of water. The body, 
when it first parts from its bed, forms a broad arch of 
glassy appearance ; a little lower down it assumes a fleecy 
form, and ultimately, in its progress, it shoots forth in 
millions of smaller masses, which chase each other like 
sky-rockets. The attending noises are quite astounding, 
and dense clouds of vapor soar upward, presenting beauti- 
ful rainbows in their ascent. What gives a remarkable 
appearance to the scene is the great difference in the vege- 
tation surrounding different parts of it." At the summit 
the traveler " finds himself surrounded, not only with 



172 NIAGARA. 

begonias and the yellow bark tree (Sandal), but with oaks, 
elms, and other plants, the growth of which recall to mind 
the vegetation of Europe, when suddenly he discovers, as 
from a terrace and at his feet, a country producing the 
palm, the banana, and the sugar-cane. The cause of the 
difference is not ascertained, the difference of altitude — 
one hundred and seventy-five metres — not being sufficient 
to exert much influence on the atmosphere." 

Another and grander South American fall, of compara- 
tively recent discovery, is the Kaiteeur, so called, in the 
river Potaro, a large affluent of the Essequibo, the largest 
river in British Guiana. The volume of water is greater 
than that in the Bogota, and falls in a single column of 
dazzling whiteness seven hundred and forty feet into a 
vast basin below. The ascending cloud of spray, the 
solemn monotone of the descending flood, the extreme 
wildness of the primitive forest, and the luxuriant and 
abundant growth of tropical vines and shrubs, and their 
gorgeous colors, make the scene impressive. 

" There is in Brazil," says EHsee Reclus, " not far from 
Bahia, the wonderful cataract of San Francisco, known by 
the name of Paulo Affonso. At the foot of a long slope 
over which it glides in rapids, the river, one of the most 
considerable of the South American continent, whirls 
round and round as it enters a kind of funnel-shaped 
cavity, roughened with rocks, and suddenly contracting 
its width, dashes against three rocky masses reared up like 
towers at the edge of the abyss ; then dividing into four 
vast columns of water, it plunges down into a gulf two 
hundred and forty-six feet in depth. The principal column, 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. 173 

being confined in a perpendicular passage, is scarcely sixty- 
six feet in width, but it must be of an enormous thickness 
(depth), as it forms almost the whole body of the river. 
Half way up, the channel which contains it bends to the 
left, and the falling mass, changing its direction, passes 
under a vertical column of water, which penetrates through 
it from one side to the other, and breaking it up into a 
chaos of surges, converts it into a sea of foam. Sometimes 
the white, misty vapor may be seen, and the thunder 
of the water may be heard at a distance of more than 
fifteen miles." The spray and roar of Niagara are often 
seen and heard at Toronto, forty miles away, across 
Lake Ontario. 

In Norway is found the highest perpendicular fall in 
the world that is constantly supplied with water. It is 
the Keel-fos, formed by a mountain stream that falls two 
thousand feet into the Navoens Fjord near Gudhaven, but 
the water becomes a mere billowy bank of mist before it 
reaches the bottom. 

The Riunkan-fos is another Norwegian cataract in the 
outlet of Lake Mjosvard, which pours through a wild, 
rock-studded slope until it reaches a precipice, on the 
brink of which it is divided by a huge mass of rock into 
two channels. Thence it falls eight hundred and eighty 
feet into a dark basin at its foot, from which water- 
rockets and sharp jets of foam shoot up and out in all 
directions. The intense whiteness of the fleecy column 
is indescribable. 

A still more famous Norwegian cararact is the Sarp- 
fos in the Stor-Elven, formed by the junction of the 



174 NIAGARA. 

Lougen and Glommen, the largest of the Norwegian 
rivers. Like the Riunkan-fos the stream is greatly con- 
tracted in a rocky gorge, and at the edge of the cliff is 
divided into two channels which, however, soon unite in 
a fall of one hundred feet upon huge masses of rock, 
through and over which it rushes tumultuously for a short 
distance, and then flows quietly into the sea. The vol- 
ume of water is unusuUy large for a purely mountain 
river, being in the gorge at the top of the fall one hun- 
dred and fifty feet wide and forty feet deep. The massive 
and intensely white column contrasted with the dark green 
foliage of the solemn pines, and the darker rocks about it, 
and the deep blue water into which it falls, produce a 
vivid impression on the mind of the beholder. The Stor- 
Elven here presents the curious phenomenon of a stream 
changing, not from a perpendicular fall to a rapid, but the 
reverse, from a rapid to a perpendicular fall. A great 
portion of the right bank of the river at the fall, and for a 
considerable distance below, is chiefly composed of a stiff 
blue clay, and the river once flowed past Sarpsborg, a 
mile below, in a succession of magnificent rapids. At 
that time a superb mansion with numerous out-buildings 
stood at the termination of the rapids. On the 5th of 
February, 1702, the mansion, together with everything in 
and about it, sunk into an abyss six hundred feet deep, 
and was entirely buried beneath the water. The walls of 
the house were of unusual strength and thickness, with 
several high towers, but the whole was buried out of sight. 
Fourteen persons and two hundred head of cattle were also 
engulfed. The catastrophe was caused by the washing 





' . f^.'f 







Opposite page 174- 



Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. 1 75 

out of the blue clay, and the undermining of the bank, 
which then toppled over into the watery chasm. 

In Switzerland is the Staubbach — dust-stream — a well 
known fall in the canton of Berne. It has a sheer descent 
of nearly nine hundred feet, in which the water is converted 
into spray that is easily moved by the wind, thus giving it a 
singularly beautiful resemblance to a white curtain floating 
in the air. 

In South Africa, Livingstone has made the public 
acquainted with that extraordinary hiatus in the crust of 
the earth in which the great river Zambesi is swallowed 
up. A stream more than a thousand yards wide, dotted 
with islands, flowing between fertile banks clothed with 
the luxuriant and gorgeous vegetation of the tropics, with- 
out the least preliminary break or rapid, suddenly drops 
into a dark chasm of unknown depth, which, repeatedly 
doubling on itself, pursues its tortuous course some forty 
miles through the hills before emerging again into the 
sunlight. " From Kalai," says Livingstone, " after some 
twenty minutes' sail we came in sight of the columns of 
vapor appropriately called smoke. * * * Five 

columns now arose, and, bending in the direction of the 
wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered 
with trees. The tops of the columns at this distance (six 
miles) appeared to mingle with the clouds. The whole 
scene was extremely beautiful." At the brink of the chasm 
he found the river divided into two channels of unequal width 
by a large island called the " Garden," on account gf its 
rich vegetation. " Creeping with awe to the verge I 
peered down into a large rent which had been made from 



1/6 NIAGARA. 

bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a stream 
a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet and 
then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen 
or twenty yards. In looking down into this fissure on the 
right of the island one sees nothing but a dense, white 
cloud. From this cloud rushed up a great jet of vapor 
exactly like steam, and it mounted two hundred or three 
hundred feet high ; then, condensing, it changed its hue 
into that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant 
shower. This shower fell chiefly on the opposite side of 
the fissure, and a few yards back from the top there 
stands a straight hedge of evergreen trees, whose 
leaves are always wet. From their roots a number of 
little rills run back into the gulf, but as they flow down 
the steep wall the column of vapor in its ascent licks 
them up clean ofif the rock, and away they mount again. 
They are constantly running down, but never reach the 
bottom." 

In Northern Africa the Murchison Falls in the White 
Nile, between lakes Victoria N'yanzi and Albert N'yanzi, 
were discovered by Sir Samuel Baker, and are de- 
scribed by him. " Upon rounding the corner a magnifi- 
cent sight burst suddenly upon us. On either side of the 
river were beautifully wooded clifis rising abruptly to a 
height of about three hundred feet; rocks were jutting out 
from the intensely green foliage, and, rushing through a 
gap that cleft the river exactly before us, the river itself, 
contracted from a grand stream, was pent up in a narrow 
gorge scarcely fifty yards in width; roaring furiously 
through the rock-bound pass, it plunged in one leap of 








Wm* 'y^ 




Opposite page 176. 



The Staubbach — Switzerland. 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. \'J^ 

about one hundred and twenty feet perpendicularly into 
a dark' abyss below. The fall of water was snow-white, 
which had a superb effect, as it contrasted with the dark 
cliffs that walled the river, while graceful palms of the 
tropics and wild plantains perfected the beauty of the 
view." 

A writer in Hamilton's "East Indian Gazetteer" gives 
us an account of the cataract of Gungani Chuki in the 
northern branch of the river Cavery. " Much the larger 
stream is broken by projecting masses of rock into one 
cataract of prodigious volume and three or four smaller 
torrents. The first plunges into the river below from a 
height variously estimated at from one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty feet, while the others, impeded in their 
course by intervening rocks, work their way with many 
fantastic evolutions to a distance about two hundred feet 
from the base of the precipice, where they all unite to 
make a single final plunge, while the other branch of the 
river precipitates itself in two columns from a cliff of the 
same height, and standing nearly at right angles with 
the main fall. The surrounding scenery is wild in 
the extreme, and the whole presents a very imposing 
spectacle. 

"A second cataract is formed by the southern arm of the 
Cavery about a mile below. The channel here spreads 
out into a magnificent expanse, which is divided into no 
less than ten distinct torrents, which fall with infinite variety 
of configuration over a precipice of more than one hun- 
dred feet, but presenting no single body equal to the 
Gungani Chuki, but the whole forming an amphitheatre 
12 



178 NIAGARA. 

of cataracts, meeting the eye in every direction along a 
sweep of perhaps 90°, and combined with scenery of such 
sequestered wildness that for picturesque effect it is perhaps 
without parallel in the world." This branch of the stream 
is used to irrigate the province of Tanjore, and the com- 
ing of its floods is celebrated by the natives with special 
festivities, as they consider the river to be one of their most 
beneficent deities. 

The beautiful and picturesque fall of the Rhine below 
Schaffhausen, where the water falls sixty-five feet in a 
single column, is the admiration of all travelers. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Famous Rapids and Cascades — Niagara — Amazon — Orinoco — 
Parana — Nile — Livingstone. 

TN all its features and characteristics the great water- 
^ course, including the great lakes, which feeds the 
Niagara, is peculiar and interesting. It is more than 
two thousand miles long ; its utmost surface-sources 
are scarcely six hundred feet above tide-water ; its 
bottom, at its greater depth, is more than four hundred 
feet below tide-water. In all its course it receives less than 
two score of affluents, and only two of these, the St. Mau- 
rice and the Saugeen, bring to it any considerable quantity 
of water, and no flood in any of them discolors its emerald 
surface from shore to shore. Only fierce gales of wind 
bring up from its own depths the sediment that can dis- 
color its whole face. Far the greater portion of its water- 
supply is drawn from countless hidden springs, lying 
deep in the bosom of the earth. In all the elements of 
beautiful, picturesque, and enchanting scenery it is 
unrivaled. 

The rapids of the Niagara just above the Falls, from 
the Leaping Rock down through the Witches' Caldron 
to the edge of the precipice, are nearly a mile in 
width, and discharge ten million cubic feet of water 
each minute. But for a combination of grandeur and 



l80 NIAGARA. 

beauty, and for imparting a sense of almost infinite 
power, nothing can surpass the Whirlpool Rapids below 
the Falls, where the ten million cubic feet of water are 
compressed into a tortuous, tumultuous channel, less 
than four hundred feet wide. 

There are many lesser rapids in the St. Lawrence, 
from the Thousand Islands to Montreal, the passage of 
which in the large lake steamers is an exciting voyage. 
The constant changes of scenery at every turn and in 
every rood of progress is almost bewildering. Then the 
alternation of rapids and broad expanses of river, the 
bird-like motion as the steamer sinks and sails down 
through the rapids, and the sense of relief when it 
seems to rise and glide over the smooth river, vary 
and increase the excitement. There is developed in 
one of those expanses a peculiar geological feature 
called the Split Rock. The name is strictly accurate. 
The descending steamer finds but one narrow chan- 
nel, a little more than its own width, through which it 
can pass in a stream more than half a mile wide. It 
lies between the sharp corners of a broad, wedge- 
shaped cleavage in an immense rock which, by some 
convulsion of nature — not by any abrading process 
of the elements — has been literally split downward more 
than eighty feet. The last crooked and turbulent rapid 
passed just before reaching Montreal is the terror of the 
river pilots, and they never attempt its passage except by 
daylight. From Montreal to the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
the constantly deepening channel flows with an unbroken 
current. 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. l8l 

It is a notable fact that the great river of rivers, which 
drains a larger territory than any other on the globe, the 
Amazon proper, has a fall of only two hundred and ten 
feet in a course of three thousand miles, and while it has 
a deep channel and a uniform current of three miles 
an hour for its whole length, it has no broken rapids. 
But in its many great affluents rapids are numerous, 
though not so famous as those found in other South Am- 
erican rivers. 

The river Orinoco, more remarkable in some respects 
than the Amazon, receives the waters of four hun- 
dred and thirty-six rivers, besides two thousand smaller 
streams. It is one thousand five hundred miles long, is 
navigable for seven hundred and eighty miles, and at 
Bolivar, two hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, it is 
four miles wide and three hundred and ninety feet deep. 
Its famous rapids of the Apure and Maypure were visited 
by Humboldt. At the latter, the river is two thousand 
eight hundred and forty yards wide, and plunges down an 
inclined plane about three miles long, making a fall equal 
to forty feet in vertical height. It is dotted with innum- 
erable islands which furnish a striking contrast to the vast 
sheet of white water, presenting the singular appearance 
of an eruption of shrub-crowned rocks in a sea of foam. 
These islands, and its great width, constitute the peculiar 
characteristics of this chute. 

In the grandest of the South American rapids, those 
of the river Parana, a vast volume of water from a chan- 
nel nearly two and a half miles in width is compressed 
into a gorge only sixty-six yards wide, through which 



l82 NIAGARA. 

the flood dashes down a slope of sixty degrees inclina- 
tion and fifty-six feet perpendicular fall. Its roar — a 
perpetual monotone — is heard thirty miles away. 

Hardly less remarkable than the rapids of the South 
American rivers are those of the two great African rivers, 
the Nile and the Congo, or, as Mr. Stanley has re-chris- 
tened the latter, the Livingstone. The Nile may be 
compared to a vast tree with its huge delta-roots in the 
Mediterranean, its boll extending up through a rainless 
desert nearly one thousand five hundred miles to meet its 
numerous branches which stretch up into the mountains 
of Abyssinia, and the vast basin south of the equator 
that contains the great lakes of Victoria N'yanzi and 
Albert N'yanzi. From these branches in each year, at a 
fixed season, are poured down the sediment-charged waters 
which irrigate and fertilize an immense valley that would 
otherwise be only a parched and desert waste. 

Without specifying the data for his calculations, Mr. 
Stanley, who saw them both, states that the volume of 
the Livingstone is ten times greater than that of the Nile. 
Its course is interrupted by two series of cataracts, or 
rather a combination of cascades and rapids. The first 
series, seven in number, occurs within four hundred 
miles of its source, and consists of the Stanley Falls, 
occupying different points in a channel sixty-two miles 
long. Its banks are of moderate elevation above its bed, 
and in the long, bright, equatorial days the leaping, 
sparkling, foaming w^aters present a scene of dazzling 
brilliancy. In the second series, named by Mr. Stanley 
the Livingstone Falls, there are thirty-two cascades, more 



OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. 1 83 

extensive and imposing than those of the first. The 
river, after a gentle descent of nearly one thousand miles, 
and after receiving many large affluents, reaches the first 
of these impetuous torrents where all its waters are com- 
pressed into a narrow gorge only four hundred and fifty 
feet wide, and at a single point near the right bank where 
a sounding was possible, Mr. Stanley found a depth of 
one hundred and thirty-eight feet. 

The remaining thirty-one cascades are distributed 
along a channel one hundred and fifty-five miles in 
length, between banks from fifty to six hundred feet high, 
and having a fall of one thousand one hundred feet. The 
dimensions here given indicate that these rapids are 
second, in power and impressiveness, only to those above 
the Whirlpool of Niagara. 



r^' 



